His Personal Assistant

Chapter 45

BPOV.

"Isabella Marie Swan!"

The crowd exploded into good-natured cheers as, with shaky legs, I made my way onto the graduation stage. The Dean of the Business Faculty, and then the Dean of the

University, shook my hand. Both of them looked like they wanted a stiff drink – which was understandable, considering how many graduating students hands they had shook

today. The Dean of Business wouldn't look me in the eye – making me wonder whether he remembered I was the girl Carlisle Cullen had tried to get a scholarship for a year

ago.

The Dean's pretty assistant handed me my diploma and smiled at me indulgently as I shifted the tassel on my graduation cap.

I had officially graduated.

No my students, no more books, no more teachers dirty looks. I could understand what Alice Cooper was talking about. School was out, and I was a societal approved and

accepted adult. That would have scared the crap out of me, but as I scanned over the students and staff, I found the families of students and knew I would never be alone.

There was an entire row of people dedicated to me, all of them looking up at me with pride and love. Alice and Jasper were at one end, Jasper's arm thrown lazily around Alice,

who was sobbing uncontrollably into his shirt. I couldn't help but shake my head in exasperation. She had cried at pretty much every milestone in our lives, so I was far from

surprised.

Next to them were Rose and Emmett, both of whom were wolf whistling in the wake of my name being called. I swear to God, they were responsible for 90% of the crowd's

noise. Next to Emmett, my dad Charlie was looking at Emmett as if he was a nutcase, unsurprisingly considering he had just started hollering like he was at a freakin' baseball

match or something. Mom was in a similar state to Alice, clutching to Dad and sniffling. Geesh. You'd think they were at my funeral.

Angela was sitting next to Mom, looking incredibly uncomfortable even as she smiled kindly. This was one of her first public outings with the Cullen family, and I knew she

was worried about exposure. She had decided to wait until her son was old enough to make an informed decision before publicly announcing he was a Cullen or not.

Surprisingly enough, Esme was sitting next to her, and even from here I could see she had a reassuring hand on her forearm. She was also smirking, in a typical Esme

fashion, as she sat between Carlisle and the mother of Carlisle newest son. I shook my head again. I would never understand Esme's (or, by extension, Emmett's) sense of

humor.

Carlisle was oblivious to this, too busy cooing at chubby baby Ben, who was sitting contently in his favorite brothers's arms. Since Carlisle and Edward, not to mention the rest

of the Cullen family, had sat down and worked through their differences (I'm fairly certain more punching had been involved), it hadn't taken long for all of them to bond over the

cuteness that was their newest family member.

Edward was holding Ben securely against his stomach, his hands crossed over Ben's round belly and his chin resting on Ben's head. I felt my ovaries come alive at the sight

of Edward and Ben, as they always did. It was like someone flipped a switch from Off to Edward-Impregnate-Me-Now-Please. But more important then my overactive ovaries