The Letter
I have no excuses for being MIA. I just have been. this will be posted in two again because my chapters have got longer lol
Chapter 16 part 1, SM owns it, Adult content.
Bella's POV
My mother looked so happy dancing up there with her new husband.
I don't think I realized just how emotional it was going to be seeing Renee giving herself over to Phil so completely, but it was-very. Seeing how she smiled brighter than I had ever witnessed; while he looked at her with complete adoration. I know he'd been in our lives for a long time now but it was still strange.
Wonderful.
Both Oliver and I would be leaving for college in a few short months and it was nice to know they'd at least have each other for comfort and companionship.
A gentle kiss on my shoulder called for my attention so I turned to face the culprit.
Edward was smiling at me and reached up to wipe the stray tear that had escaped my notice from my cheek. I smiled back and turned my face into the warmth of his chest. He managed to talk me into dancing with him even though he knew the risks to his feet. We spent a couple of songs slowly moving together on the intimate dance floor. He'd pressed his forehead to mine through some Taylor Swift song and smiled at me the whole time. His eyes seemed to be searching mine as the words of her song filled the air around us. If I was being honest it was a little overwhelming to see them so intense.
When I asked him what he was thinking about he said ‘us’ and my heart melted.
He told me he loved me in such a way that his words burned themselves into my soul.
"I love you too." My smile was wide.
"I don't think you quite understand how much though, Bella." He pulled me impossibly closer to him and I felt a flood of goose bumps cover my entire body.
We didn't say much after that; while he moved me around with him, we didn't need to. Every bit of love we felt for each other spilled through every pore, every touch, and I felt nothing but a need for him to be near me.
When I allowed him to take most of my weight around his neck, he realized I was beat and moved us back over to our table.
I excused myself to go use the bathroom and turned towards the main entrance hall; knowing the bathrooms were just down this hall. I felt like I was walking on a cloud. My mind focused on Edward the entire time I was moving and I didn't notice the other person coming out of the door.
"Oh...Sorry I wasn't watching where I...was...going." My voice grew weak as I took in the aggravated glare coming from Rosalie.
"Well maybe you should open your eyes a little more to what's right in front of you, huh?" She sneered.
I got the impression she wasn't just talking about my ability to bump into anything and everything.
I decided to try to ignore her words and tried to side step her, but her arm shot out across the gap to block me. She never looked up; instead choosing to admire her long talons.
"I don't get what he sees in you." She mumbled while shifting her weight to her other leg.
"What?" I looked at her in complete confusion.
"Eddie...I don't get it. He could have anyone he wanted, me, for instance." She chuckled humorlessly. "Yet he chose plain old boring Bella from Boston. I just...don't...get it." She finally looked in my direction but from down her nose.
"His name is Edward!" I spat through clenched teeth, trying to keep a lid on my anger.
"Edward..." She deliberately over pronounced his name. "...Is going to wake up one day and realize how much time he's wasted with a loser like you and come to me for some real fun. I'm going to do things to him that will leave him unable to even remember your name. I'm going to show him exactly what he's been missing and you will be nothing but a distant memory." She licked her lips purposefully and I blanched at her words. "I do, after all, live very close to him back in Phoenix. Why would he want to travel all the way here for milk and cookies when he can have prime steak?"
A shiver ran through me at her words and I looked to the floor dejected.
She was right. Of course she was.
Who was I trying to kid?
Everyone knew that long distance relationships never worked out, right? And I was everything that she had said, plain... well just plain boring.
I felt bile rising in my throat but I tried to swallow it back down as it burned my esophagus.
I nodded my head in acceptance and turned on my heel. I would wait to use the bathroom; for now I needed nothing more than to get away from the evil tongued bitch that had so eloquently made her point while blocking my path.
I turned back towards the crowded dining room only to be met with the sight of Edward walking towards me, smiling. My heart ached as it pounded furiously against my chest and I took a few steps back out into the entrance. His expression turned to concern and his pace picked up.
I turned and bolted for the very grand staircase that had been intricately carved by skilled craftsmen hundreds of years ago. I lifted my dress at the sides and took the steps two at a time. I vaguely remembered hearing him call my name as the blackness tried to overtake me. I managed to fight it off while I found a safe place, away from prying eyes, to fall to pieces. Finally a door opened and I threw myself into it; not caring where I was as long as I was alone.
Edward's POV
What the fuck?
"Bella!" I called as confusion filled me.
What the hell? Had she just blatantly run away from me for?
Then I saw Rosalie standing by the bathroom door looking smugly in the direction my girlfriend had just flown.
"You!" I growled as I charged towards her, "What the fuck did you do to her?" I leaned in towards her menacingly.
"What?" she tried to sound nonchalant but I could sense a bit of fear in her.
She'd never seen me angry...and she really didn't want to either.
"What. Did. You. Say. To. Her?" My heart was pumping testosterone through me -fueling my rage.
"Edward. Dude...What's up?" Jasper sounded reluctant to interfere but seeing as I was snarling at his sister, he obviously had no choice but to intervene.
"Why don't you ask her!" I didn't back down to give her more room to feel safe; instead I continued to glare at her.
She squirmed under the weight of my stare.
"I told her that I didn't get what you saw in her...that's all." She shrugged and averted her eyes.
I knew Rose well enough to know she was bull shitting me.
"What I see in her is of no consequence to you but seeing as you really want to know! She's Smarter, she's funnier and she's more beautiful than you'll ever be!"
Emmett and Alice had joined our little exchange and were glaring at the apparent situation before them.
Rosalie sneered at my comment on beauty and my hand shot up as if to grab her face. Then I remembered that I don't hit women and stilled it inches away from her chin.
"You're very lucky I don't hit women." I hissed through gritted teeth.
Rosalie tried to look to Emmett for some kind of defense for her honor but he stood statue like, with his big arms crossed over his chest.
Jasper decided that it may be best to put himself between me and his very un-remorseful sister. It wasn't an aggressive move, but he intended to let me know I was getting close to my breaking point. His hand rested on my shoulder in an effort to calm me and it worked. I was still furious with her but looked to my friend and appreciated his intervention.
I stepped back and turned towards Alice. "I need to find her." My anger was replaced by fear of the damage I knew Rosalie's wicked words could have done. I turned back to the blond. "You better hope I find her."
She rolled her eyes at me.
"I think she went upstairs Edward." Alice touched my arm to get my attention before pointing up the huge oak staircase.
I thanked her and headed for the steps, then turned around to address Rose one last time.
"You know what you're problem is, Rose… the reason why I never have been and never will be interested in you?" I narrowed my eyes at her.
She looked up at me with curiosity clear as day on her face.
"Because you're fake. Everything about you is fake, your voice, your face, Hell, even your pathetic personality. Maybe you should go and get your fake boobs checked to see if they're leaking, they just might be poisoning the rest of you." I turned and bolted up the stairs.
"I knew it!" Alice yelled in acknowledgement.
My veins were still pumping blood angrily through me and I could hear the rushing sound in my ears. When I got to the top step I took a moment to calm myself.
Slowly, I started walking down the long corridor of doors in the hopes of finding her. The house was beautiful throughout and the corridor I was facing seemed elongated by the huge arched window right at the end of the hall. The sun had started to set and shadows from the frame were spilling across the golden carpet. I walked silently, hoping to hear even the smallest sound to indicate her presence, but heard nothing; leaving me with no choice other than to check all the rooms one by one and that was a lot of rooms!
My search seemed fruitless and I almost gave up to go search the next floor but as I opened the door to the last room at the end of the hall, my attention was drawn to the petite frame of a girl sat on the window seat; hugging her knees and staring out at the dimming sun while she stared into the shadows.
"Bella?" I kept my tone gentle and walked towards her.
Nothing.
She kept silent and a sense of déjà vu filled me.
When I drew nearer I climbed up onto the seat besides her. The sorrowful look in her eyes was enough to make my chest ache painfully.
After a while she sighed and turned her body towards me but kept her gaze locked on her hands in her lap.
I reached out and stopped her fidgeting by holding her hands in mine. The action made her turn back to the window as tears spilled from her eyes.
My heart was on the verge of breaking and I couldn't let it. I moved forward and pulled her into me as she sobbed harder.
"Bella...Please don't give up on us before we've had a chance to be together...Please?" I begged her. I didn't care if I sounded pathetic because I knew the look of defeat on her face. I knew her better than anyone and I knew that whatever the fuck Rose had said to her was enough to make her question shit that didn't need questioning. "Rose is just bitter because I chose you over her, Bella -a decision I would make a million times over! She's vile and venomous! The only way she knows how to deal with rejection is to try and hurt those that denied her and the people they love. She hates that I love and care about you more than anything else in the whole universe. She doesn't understand it. The bond between us is unbreakable...remember? Forever." I held out her hand and turned the ring on her finger, the one I had given her as a child. "Always."
I was scared that I would lose the most important person in my life over some stupid, needy blond.
I couldn't let that happen.
I wouldn't let that happen.
I was starting to realize that I was rambling in an attempt to reassure her; what I hadn't realized was that I was crying along side of her. Her hand shook as it reached up to wipe away the stray tears rolling over my cheeks.
"I love you so much, Bella." My voice was strangled as I pulled her to me once more.
She didn't protest so I hugged her harder, hoping to convey everything she made me feel.
"It's not going to work is it?" Her voice was broken and the shards cut at my chest.
I pulled back to look at her.
"What?" I suddenly felt as cold as stone.
"This." She gestured between us.
"Don't say that...don't ever say that. Please Bella..." I was getting frantic again.
My fantasy of a life with her was threatening to dissipate.
She sniffled and licked her lips.
"You deserve so much better than me." A sob broke free from her shaking form.
"I think you have that the wrong way around." I argued as playfully as possible while teetering on the edge of a blade. "Bella, if this means anything to you like it does to me, then don't give it up. We have to fight for it. If it's worth having then that's what we have to do. I love you and I will do whatever it takes to keep us together."
"You go home in one week, Edward. Can you honestly tell me that you'd be happy for things to go back to nothing more than phone calls and MSN?"
"Yes!" My answer was full of conviction "If that's what it takes, then yes. But it won't be like that."
"How will it not? That's not a relationship!" She countered. "Rose was right, you should be with someone who can be with you in person, not someone that lives on the other side of the country, who you might be lucky enough to hug when there is a wedding or something."
"Rose was fucking wrong, Bella!"
Miss. Hale had a lot to fucking answer for!
"It's a long way to come for milk and cookies, Edward." She lowered her head and started to fidget again.
"Milk and cookies? What are you...Oh..." I bobbed my head; finally understanding her a little better.
A mask of crimson shrouded her face and neck as she chanced a peek at me.
"I don't care if I had to travel to the ends of the earth or beyond as long as those 'milk and cookies' were being fed to me by you. I love your milk and cookies." A grin flitted across my face as my eyes misbehaved and fell to the tops of her breasts that were peeking out from her dress; earning me a slap on my arm.
"Edward!"
The slap had been worth it as a smile played on her lips.
"Be serious!" She chuckled a little.
"I am being serious-very serious. Yours are the best 'cookies' I've ever seen...okay they're the only cookies I've ever seen in the flesh, but that's neither here nor there. The issue is that I don't care how much distance is between us, Bella, I'll still love you regardless and even if you...if this ends...I'm still going to love you. So why stunt the possibilities for us?"
We sat quiet for a moment while she took in my words.
"Cookies?" She raised her eyebrow at my analogy.
"Cookies, Boobies, Tar Tar's...do you have any specific preference? I'd hate to insult their magnificence with giving them the wrong playful nickname." I let my eyes wander to her chest and gestured squeezing them in my hands.
She giggled and hit me again. Her face was no longer quite as ashen as she sighed and looked up to meet my gaze.
"It's going to be hard." Her brow creased as she took my hand and laced our fingers.
"Nothing wonderful is ever easy, Bella." I answered in barely more than a whisper. "Screw Rosalie and screw anyone else that can't be happy for us. My life is nothing without you and if that means I have to jump on a plane every weekend, then that's what I'll do if it means we can be together."
"Don't be ridiculous, Edward!" She chided me with a smile.
"I'm being serious. Okay maybe I can't make it up here every weekend but I will be here as often as possible; that much I can promise you." I pressed my forehead to hers, letting my eyes close in relief that this whole conversation didn't turn out the way it could have. "Of course if you ever grew tired of my boyish charms and studly physique, then I would totally understand and stay away...If you'd like" I mocked; pretending to whip the hair off my face.
"I could never grow tired of you Edward...Ever. I love you" Her hand grasped mine harder.
I closed the distance between us slowly and caressed her lips with my own.
"Just one thing." She pulled away to address me.
"Anything, my love." I smiled crookedly.
"Can we never...EVER put the words Rosalie and screwing in the same sentence again? I don't want to even think..." She closed her eyes and shivered.
"Done." I whispered against her lips; eager to claim them with my own.
Her eyes drifted back to the view from the window and I brushed back my favorite loose strand of hair from her face, before moving to sit behind her.
We sat in comfortable silence while she watched the sun snuggling into the clouds on the horizon and I stroked the soft skin of her arm.
The room was of large proportion, with dark paneled walls and two huge floor to ceiling paned windows. An extravagant four poster bed with heavy drapes took pride of place and dominated the space. On the far wall was a grand, open fireplace that I could picture cracking and popping while I kissed and caressed Isabella in front of it before claiming her as mine in that huge, comfortable bed.
A gentle knock on the door dragged me back to reality.
"Hey," Alice's meek voice travelled across the room to us, "I just wanted to make sure you were okay, Bella." She continued as she slowly walked towards us. "Your Mom's been asking where you got to, as well."
"I guess we shouldn't have her panicking then, huh?" She sighed before smiling at me and lifting to her feet.
I rose and grabbed her hand.