19

Bella didn't end the kiss until burning need to breathe was too much and she leaned away, almost gasping for air. Tears fell freely down her face. Fate had dealt her a cruel hand, giving her the love of a man, only to steal her life away.

"What the fuck is going on here?"

At the sound of Seth's voice, Bella's eyes closed and she found herself trying to lose herself in Edward's arms. It was easy to let herself forget that there were people gathered around them when he held her, when he loved her. She only wished his arms were enough to save her life.

"Swan, what the fuck is going on? You're dying?"

Traitorous tears filled her eyes, and once again she hated herself for letting her emotions get the best of her. She'd been doing just fine until Edward came barreling into her life, giving her someone to love, to live for, but fate had other ideas.

"Swan!"

"What, Seth?" Bella snarled, turning and looking at him, Rose, and Tanya, all three who were watching her with pity marring their features, which wasn't unexpected. It was just one reason why she hadn't wanted to share her health issues with too many people. Dying was hard enough without adding pity to the mix. "What do you want?"

"I . . . I . . ." Seth shook his head sadly. "You're dying."

Bella pressed her lips together before nodding. "Slowly and painfully."

"What? How? I don't understand," he stammered, taking a step toward her, but stopped when Bella pressed herself back against Edward. Seth's eyes flickered from her to Edward and back. "Shit, Swan."

"Sucks, doesn't it?" she murmured. "I'm not ready to die, Seth. I wanted so much more out of life, but my body seems to have other ideas." Bella dragged her hand over her face and through her hair, once more wishing she'd had a hair band. "It's not fair."

"Surely there's something that can be done," Tanya said, shifting so that she had her arms wrapped around her husband. "Medication or something?"

"There's no cure to what's killing me," she lied, unsure if it was a lie or not. Next to her, she felt Edward tense and guilt crushed her soul. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt the one man to ever love her.

"Why are you being so stubborn?" At the sound of Esme's voice, Bella's eyes closed for a moment before she turned and saw not only her sister, but Carlisle, Emmett, Jasper, and Alice standing at the entrance of the pit. Esme had one hand clutching the front of her tank top, while Carlisle had his arm wrapped around her. "I don't understand how you can just say no!"

"Of course you don't," Bella muttered. "She didn't leave you, Essie. She left me!"

"What in the fuck are you talking about?" Esme asked, pulling away from Carlisle and walking toward Bella, but stopping when Bella yanked herself out of Edward's arms. "Bells!"

"She stayed with you and dad until after I was born, then she left. She left after me, because she didn't love me, Essie! And now, you expect me to crawl back to her on my knees and beg her to save my life? That's not going to happen!"

"First of all, she left all of us, Bella. You, me, and Dad," Esme whimpered. "When she came back, I told her to go to hell, to get the fuck off the island and go back to wherever she's been hiding for the last twenty years."

"How can you forgive her?" Bella asked, aware of the way everyone was watching them.

"I haven't," Esme replied with a shake of her head. "I sat down with her one time and listened to her excuses, but I don't forgive her for leaving."

"Then how can you ask me to go to her?"

Esme shrugged her shoulders. "Because I'm not ready for you to leave me, too. I lost her, I lost Dad. I'm ready to lose the only family I have left, Bells."

"I'm not ready to die, either, Essie," Bella sobbed, softly and in an instant, Edward had her back in his arms. "But I can't go to her. I just . . . I'm sorry, but I can't."

"Look, let's take this one step at a time," Emmett said, drawing their attention to him. He shifted his eyes from Tanya to Seth, and then to Rose, making a point of dragging his eyes down the length of her body, before shifting his attention back to Bella. "We don't even know if my treatments will help you. There's a lot that could have changed between your last round of tests and now."

Bella bit the inside of her lip as she tilted her head back and looked up at Edward. The pain filling his eyes nearly brought her to her knees. She was selfish for wanting him, for needing him, but even more selfish for not fighting to live. Her lips trembled as she shifted her attention back to Emmett.

"Okay," she murmured, trying to keep from crying once more. "I'll let you run your tests." Emmett started to smile, but stopped when she continued to speak. "But you have to wait until the end of PV."

"What?"

"Why?"

"You can't be serious!"

Pulling away from Edward, Bella crossed her arms in front of her and shifted her eyes from Alice to Carlisle and finally to Esme. "I've never breached a contract before, and I don't intend to start now. You may not like it, Essie, but if this is the last job I ever get to do, I will make sure that I see it through to the end." Bella looked at Emmett. "We have one more week. Do we have a deal?"

Emmett pressed his lips together as he looked from her to Edward and back. "One more week, but if you have another seizure, like you had a few days ago, we move forward immediately and hope that we aren't too late. Deal?"

"Yeah, okay."

—BDBH—

Bella stood on the balcony connected to Edward's hotel room, watching the waves as they beat against the shoreline. Even from a distance, she could see surfers battling to conquer each swell and jealousy welled up inside her. She wanted the freedom that surfing had once given her, back before fate crushed her dreams.

"Foods here!" Edward called from inside the room and with a sigh, Bella turned and stepped into the large suite. Edward was standing next to a cart, pulling cloches off the food he had ordered from room service: platters of fresh fruit, breads, cheese, thinly cut meats. "I wasn't sure what you liked, so I ordered a little of everything."

"So I see," Bella murmured, sitting on the edge of the bed and placing her hands on her knees. "I'm not really very hungry, though."

"You have to eat," he said before he walked over and sat next to her. "Carlisle said it's important that you eat when you take your meds."

Bella nodded, but didn't add anything to the conversation. Emotionally, she felt drained. The idea of a cure made her happy, yet she wasn't optimistic at her chances, either. Even if Emmett's test came back great, she would still have to ask her mother to save her, something that had her stomach rolling in knots. Why would she save her now?

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" she asked, shifting her eyes up to his.

"For being selfish and wanting you to let my brother save your life," he confessed. "I just found you, and I don't want to let you go."

"I just . . ." Bella shook her head, unable to get her thoughts clear enough to admit her feelings. "Why did you seem surprised to see him here?"

"Because I thought he was still in New York." Edward stood up and walked over to the tray of food, picking up one of the plates. As he began adding fresh strawberries, pineapples, mango, kiwi, and grapes, he said, "I haven't spoken to him in six months. Maybe longer."

"Why?" she asked.

Edward turned and walked back to the bed, sitting behind her and putting the plate between them as Bella shifted so that she was facing him with her legs folded in front of her. "When I made the decision to quit school after my freshman year and focus on PV, my mom and his dad didn't take it too well. Emmett was already in med school and I was expected to do something more with my life than play in the sand. They didn't understand and Emmett didn't want to get in the middle of it, I guess."

"That must suck." Bella reached over and plucked a piece of kiwi off the plate. "I can't imagine not talking to Esme every day, even if she annoys the shit of me."

"We've never been close. He lived with his mom most of the time, so I really only saw him a few times a year."

"And now he's here to save my life," Bella murmured, tossing her uneaten kiwi back onto the plate and standing up. As she walked back out to the balcony she said, "If he fails, he'll lose you forever, and it will all be because of me."

But whether Edward heard her, she couldn't be sure.

Thank you for all the reviews. I apologize for the LONG delay in this chapter, but I've struggled to get the words right, plus I work 50-70 hours a week and it's been draining. Please know that no matter how long it takes, I will never give up on finishing any and all of my stories.