Meant to Be- Chapter 9

Edward

New Year's Day

I woke up to the smell of coffee and bacon cooking. At first I was disoriented, there shouldn't be anyone in my house cooking, then I opened my eyes and remembered that Bella had offered for me to stay over in her guest room last night after the party she hosted.

I got out of bed and put my clothes from yesterday back on before heading downstairs. I walked into the kitchen and saw the boys in their highchairs snacking on some fruit. Emily was nowhere to be seen but I heard the radio on in the living room so I assumed she was in there colouring or dancing around.

Bella was swaying her hips gently to the music and alternating between cooking at the stove and cutting up more fruit. I walked over towards her and she still hadn't looked up at me. I wrapped my arms around her from behind as she was stirring something on the stove.

"Good morning," she turned her head and smiled at me.

I gave her a quick kiss on the lips before saying, "Morning. Have you been up long?"

"A while. The boys were up at their usual time but Emily just woke up about 20 minutes ago. Did you sleep ok? That room can get a bit cold some nights."

"It was fine, I had lots of blankets thanks to you." She smiled at me again then focused her attention back on the food.

I walked over to the boys and pulled up a chair in front of them.

Kyle looked up at me and gave me a huge grin full of drool coming out of his mouth. "Ewa!" he squealed.

"Hey buddy," I said to him and gave him a kiss on the forehead before doing the same to Jason.

"Mmmmm…" Jason mumbled.

"Are your blueberries yummy?" I asked him.

He nodded his head as some juice dripped down his chin. I wiped his face and he continued to munch.

"Are you hungry?" Bella asked me.

"I could have some food," I smirked at her.

She rolled her eyes and said, "You're a bottomless pit. Do you always eat so much or just when I cook?"

"Mostly just when you cook, it's always delicious and I'm not much of a chef myself," I smiled.

"I will take that as a compliment. Can you help me bring everything to the table?"

We set the table together then I went to help Emily wash her hands before she eats.

We sat down to a nice meal, with chatter coming from all three kids.

When we finished eating, Bella and I each took a twin and fed them some vegetable puree. It seemed absolutely disgusting to me but they seemed happy with it.

I hung around with them for the rest of the afternoon before heading back to my place before dinner time. I warmed up some food that was in the freezer, desperately wishing for some more of Bella's cooking.

My shift started early the next morning so I went to bed early after reading a bit of my book.

Thursday, January 3

Two days later found me at Bella's place again. I'm there more than anywhere else lately.

"So, we haven't talked about what was going on with Emily's tantrum just before Christmas," I said as we were sitting on the couch after we put the kids to bed.

She hesitated before saying, "She asked me if you and I were going to get married, she wants you to be her brother and live with us and help take care of her and the boys. I told her that we weren't there yet and I didn't know if we ever were going to get married. She seemed fine with that explanation until Jasper came over. He was showing me the ring he bought for Alice. She came into the room and freaked out because she thought he was proposing to me.

"She started screaming and yelling about how I was supposed to marry you, not Jasper and she didn't want him- it was a disaster. She calmed down finally but I was completely thrown. I realized how attached she is to you. I hate saying this Edward, but I need to know: what do you want? Why are you here?"

She looked up at me through her lashes shyly, waiting for my response.

"Bella, I have really deep feelings for you and your kids. I wouldn't string you or them along if I didn't think this would last. I want to be with you, have a relationship, spend time with your kids, and eventually get married, live together, maybe even one day add to our family."

She nodded her head and opened her mouth to speak, "Thank you for putting it all out there for me. I want you to know that I am developing very strong feelings for you as well. And for that reason, there are a few things that I need from you. First of all, I need to know whether or not you will still be there for Emily if you and I don't work out for whatever reason. She loves you and you are great with her, and I would like you to still be in her life if something goes amiss with us."

"Thank you, Bella. I promise, as much as it would kill me to not be with you, that I will always be there for Emily, I love her as if she was my own and only want the best for her."

"Ok, next thing, is that I don't know how I am going to react to being in a relationship. I've really enjoyed spending time with you and getting to know you these past weeks but I haven't been in a relationship or even dated since the boys were conceived. I want to be ready but you are going to have to be patient with me and maybe help me through some setbacks if they come up."

"Absolutely, Bella. Coming into this, I knew your story and that problems might arise, but I think we can work through them together and build a stronger relationship on the other side.

"I feel bad that you have been struggling with all these worries and complications by yourself, in the future, if you aren't feeling great or have a problem with the kids, please let me know. I want to help you and be your partner in all of this."

She smiled and grabbed my face in her hands. She moved towards me and pressed our lips together. Soon my tongue slid across her bottom lip and she opened her mouth to me.

We pulled away from each other eventually and there were smiles on both of our faces.

"Thank you for being so amazing," she whispered to me.

"Thank you for being so amazing," I responded. With another quick peck to her lips I sighed, "I should get going."

"If you must." She walked me to the door and said goodbye for the night.

I headed back to my house with a delirious smile on my face. It was still present on my face when I woke up the next morning and went into the hospital to start my shift.

"What has you looking so chipper this morning, Dr. Cullen?" one of the nurses named Rhonda asked. She was a lovely older woman in her fifties, happily married with three adult children and a grandchild.

"It's just been a good couple days. What's not to be happy about Rhonda?" I replied.

"Am I correct in guessing that this has something to do with a certain Ms. Swan and her adorable little bubbas?"

I turned to face her from the charts I was reading over and gave her a wink, saying nothing else.