~~~Edward~~~
I’d been on the phone with Alice for about ten minutes. This
was supposed to be a work related conversation, but somehow we’d drifted off
into discussing my wife’s ex, and his apparent ability to throw his life down
the shitter in the blink of an eye, with one selfish decision.
Truthfully, it
was always fun talking about Jake with Bella’s best friend.
She seemed to get it
in ways no one else ever did because she’d seen the good, the bad, and the ugly
when it came to him and his bullshit.
When I saw Garrett’s name pop up on my cell phone, signaling
a new call, I let out a frustrated sigh. I was already assuming it would be
more unwanted news involving Jake and his returned amateur stalking skills.
“One sec Alice, I need to take this other call. It’s
Garrett, and the last time we spoke Jake had,”
“Nope, stop there, if our boy Jake’s involved you absolutely,
positively, better take that call and make sure our girl is okay!” Alice
quickly interrupted.
I smiled to myself, appreciating her understanding of the
situation, and then lifted my cell up into my hand to hit the speaker button.
“What’s up Gar? Is everything okay?”
“Edward, yeah… I mean, we’re home, Jake was nothing more
than a nuisance but we’re home now.”
I felt some of my anxiety swiftly disappear and nodded to
myself, “Okay, so is that all?”
“She’s... um... she's sick.”
“What who, Bella? What do you mean sick?”
Garrett cleared his throat nervously and then further
explained that Bella had complained that her stomach hadn’t felt right at the
park. "She started throwing up as soon as we got back to the
penthouse."
“Is she still throwing up?” I questioned, rubbing at the back
of my neck after I’d pushed myself further into the leather chair.
“Shit, I hope she’s not pregnant!” Alice suddenly chimed in
with a shrill laugh, reminding me that she too was on speaker phone. “Could you
even imagine?! Oh my God she would have a nervous breakdown!”
My mind was running a million things all at once.
Bella pregnant?
Well it wasn’t impossible.
Although, Lord knows we’d shared plenty of moments over the
last few weeks that could have led to such a…
Holy shit, Bella is
pregnant!
Her erratic up and down behavior, and emotional reaction
roller-coaster over the latest Jake fiasco… it suddenly made so much sense.
But she’d said nothing to me.
So then obviously… she
herself had no idea, Cullen.
“Edward, you there?”
I ran my hand aggressively through my hair and stood up from
my chair to begin pacing the room.
“Yeah I’m here sorry. I have a million different things
coming at me all at once. She must have caught a bug. I’ll stop and get some
ginger ale, just make sure she’s as comfortable as possible until I get there.”
“Yeah, of course, man.”
I thanked Garrett and quickly ended our call before taking
in a deep breath to try and calm myself down.
“Poor Bells! As shitty as a stomach virus can be, being
pregnant while dealing with twins and Bree… well that would not be a walk in
the park. Not to mention I’d have a hard time not hating her at least a little
bit for getting knocked up again before I get my own chance!”
I laughed nervously at Alice’s slightly self-centered
comment and then began racking my brain, trying to remember the last time Bella
had complained about having her monthly friend.
Nothing came to me.
“Okay well I better get home. I’ll tell Bella to give you a
call later so you girls can play catch up with the Jake insanity. I’m sure she
could use a set of ears to vent to, and I know she can’t always tell me
everything that’s going on inside that head of hers.”
“Nope she can’t, that’s what best friends are for, Edward Cullen.
Talk to you soon! Tell Emmett he better treat me like gold now that he’s
officially my handler!”
I laughed and nodded my head, even though she couldn’t see
me. I was almost positive my complexion had turned a pasty shade of white-ish gray. Bella's best friend would have without a doubt known something was up if we’d been on a video call.
