Picking up the Pieces

Chapter Twenty-One

This story is dedicated to my friend, Pam, who recently lost her husband to cancer. She's a wonderful friend with a beautiful soul who didn't deserve losing her best friend to such a devastating and deadly disease. I love you, girl.

Up next will be the election, Thanksgiving, and Christmas along with some citrusy times? We'll see. We'll also find out what will happen with Jessica. Will she be fired? Will she be put on probation?

Chapter Twenty-One

BPOV

Jessica Stanley was terminated from her position at Forks Elementary. After a thorough investigation, she'd been having an affair with several male parents. When those relationships ended, she'd take it out of the students. When the parents threatened to go to Alice or me, she'd threaten to show wives proof of their husband's infidelity. It was the kids' word against hers, but when one of John's friends, a little boy named Silas, his father came forward with proof of what Jessica was doing, her job was effectively gone.

He lost his wife and access to his son when he came forward, but he was also dealing with the aftermath of his tryst with Jessica – gonorrhea. I felt for the guy, but he'd made his bed. I was grateful for his corroboration and I hated that his life was in shambles, but Jessica needed to pay for her transgressions.

On top of being terminated from her job, she was in trouble with the law. She was being investigated for blackmail and extortion. She could serve jail time if the evidence was substantiated. Because of Edward's relationship with me, the Port Angeles police were heading up the investigation.

"Bella, are you going to city hall with Edward?" Alice asked as we waded through resumes for Jessica's position. "It's election day. Your fiancé could become the next chief of police of Forks."

"I am. The kids are staying with Rose and Emmett tonight, so we could celebrate, if he gets elected," I said.

"He's running uncontested. He's going to be elected," Alice giggled. I rolled my eyes as I scanned a resume. "I hope whoever we hire is going to be an improvement from Jessica."

"A sea slug would be an improvement from Jessica," I deadpanned. "I do know that John is much happier in Mr. Molina's class. He's enjoying school again."

"That's good," Alice nodded. "Now, what about Victoria Caine?" She handed me a short resume, but filled with positive, glowing reviews. "She's a new teacher but wasn't hired because of some snafu with her license."

"Is the snafu fixed?" I asked.

"Yeah," Alice replied. "They lost her transcripts and check, delaying her getting her license. However, she fought them, and they found her paperwork. She's good to go."

I read her resume and letters of recommendation. "Set up an interview, Ali-cat," I said, sliding back the resume to her. "I also like this girl, too. Sierra Jones ... she reads well from her resume." I handed her another set of papers.

"I'll schedule both of them," Alice nodded. "Now, how is the wedding planning going?"

"We've got the location figured out. We're renting out Tuscany," I said. "We're having the ceremony at the local church and the reception is at Tuscany. At some point, I do need to go shopping for a dress, but after dealing with the corset for Halloween, I know that my wedding gown will not be corseted. That was hell." I blinked to her and smiled slowly. "Grace is going to be my maid of honor, but she can't really sign the marriage license. Would you be my matron of honor?"

"I'd thought you'd never ask," Alice smiled, hugging me.

"But, Alice, as much as I love you, you cannot control my wedding," I said, arching a brow at her. "Between Esme, my mom and me, we've got it covered. It's not going to be a huge, over-the-top event. We will have fun, celebrating our nuptials. No crazy bridal showers, bachelorette parties or anything else. We went with the engagement party for Esme and it was amazing. We've finally finished sending our thank you cards. Oh, speaking of which ..." I reached into my bag, handing her a cream envelope. "Thank you for the beautiful frame, Ali. It's on our dresser, with a picture from our engagement shoot."