We Are Family

Pushing On

Bella woke up to the brightness of Edward's room again the next morning. She opened her eyes slowly and looked up to see Edward's face smiling down at her.

"Morning, Love." He said.

"Don't you ever get bored, watching me sleep?"

"I assure you, I could never be bored when I am with you."

Bella smiled, she had never thought that she would ever find someone to spend her life with when she was growing up, let alone find someone who made her feel the way Edward did with such small comments. 

"I love you, too." She reached up to kiss him, pulling back when her phone began to ring. 

It had rung six times during the night, and eventually, Bella had rolled over and silenced it. Bella knew deep down that it was wrong, but she did not feel as though she was in the correct headspace to speak to her mother about her childhood trauma. 

Much like with her father, Bella knew that her mother was a good woman deep down, but Bella had been struggling to forgive her for the way that she had behaved and chosen to take out her anger on her only daughter. Bella thought that she might be able to speak with her mother eventually and attempt to reassemble their relationship, but that day wasn't the correct day to start. 

Bella cast her phone to the side when Edward's bedroom door knocked and Jasper stepped inside, he had felt her onslaught of emotions from all the way downstairs. Jasper had an uncertain expression on his face, and Bella knew why, she could not land on a specific emotion and felt like everything was muddled inside of her mind. Love, confusion, anger, hurt, betrayal, happiness, pain, bewilderment, loss moved through her like a carousel of heightened emotion. 

Edward got up from the bed beside her and kissed her forehead, telling her that he was going to prepare breakfast for her, and would be back in a few minutes with a cup of tea. 

Jasper came and sat down beside her on the bed, her phone starting to ring once again the moment he opened his mouth to speak, only this time the number was withheld. 

"Hello?" Bella asked.

"Bella, I have been trying to reach you for hours!" Came the shrill voice of Bella's mother from the other end of the line. 

"Yeah, mom I was sleeping. It has only just turned..." Bella looked around Edward's bedroom for any sign of the time, eventually settling on Jasper who mouthed the word eight, "Eight in the morning mom, I just woke up."

"Oh... well, yes. I completely forgot about that. Anyway..." Bella rolled her eyes at her scatterbrained mothers' antics., "We need to talk Bella. I heard from Charlie, he said that you have been telling Edward's family all of these lies about your childhood."

Bella froze, her emotions immediately going haywire as her mother blatantly lied over the phone. Of course, Jasper could hear every word that her mother was saying and quickly called for Edward, who stood in the open doorway of his bedroom. 

"Lies?" Bella mumbled the word.

"Yes, Bella. I don't know why you would be saying these things now, I don't know what kind of attention this rubbish is getting you but..." 

Before Bella could listen to another word, Jasper had removed the phone from her hand and ended the call, turning off the phone. 

"Bella, darlin'..." Jasper started, sampling the emotions in the room. Bella looked up then, tears rimming her eyes but unshed and with a stoic expression. 

"It's okay, Jasper. I never expected her to admit it anyway." 

"Bella?" Edward took two more steps into the room.