Chapter 5 - EPOV

The soft light filtering through the window woke me from the best sleep I’d had in five years. The last time I’d slept that peacefully, Bella had been in my arms. I opened my eyes to see the most beautiful brown eyes staring back at me.

“Morning, beautiful,” I said as I gently stroked her cheek. Bella blushed and buried her face into my chest. I relished the feel of her in my arms.

“Did you sleep at all?”

“Yes. Thank you so much for being here, Edward.”

I lifted her chin to look into her eyes. “Please don’t hide your beautiful face from me, baby. I’ve been without it for too long. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.” Afraid to touch her bruised cheek, I gently placed a kiss on her forehead.

“Edward, you should be in Dallas trying to fix things with Tanya.” Tears started to fill her eyes.

“Bella, there is nothing to be fixed with Tanya. She and I are over and never will be together again.”

“Why not? I know how much she loves you.”

“The problem was never her love for me. Bella, I was never fully committed to her. My heart has and always will belong to you. It wasn’t fair to her. She kept hoping that one day I could get over you and return her love. After over hearing us on the phone the other night, she realized that she was fighting a losing battle.”

Bella took in a shuddering breath. “I’m so sorry, Edward. I’m sure it hurt to lose her.”

I pulled Bella into a tight embrace. “I should’ve let Tanya go a long time ago. I was only being selfish hanging on to her. She helped me cope with the hurt and loneliness of not having you in my life. Our relationship was never going to develop into a lifelong commitment. My only regret is how much I hurt Tanya. She deserves to find a man that will worship her.”

“Yes, she does. I really like Tanya. I hope she finds happiness and the two of you can still be friends.”

“Me too, baby. Me too.” I kissed the top of her head and took a deep breath. It was time to discuss James. “Bella, has James hit you before?”

Bella tensed. “No,” she whispered.

I pulled back and looked directly into her eyes. “That didn’t sound very convincing. Want to try that again?”

Tears slowly started to fall from her eyes. “That was the first time he actually hit me. He’s shoved me around before, squeezed my arm a little too tight a few times, and he yelled at me a lot. If he’d hit me before this, I’d have left him then.”

I rubbed my thumb across her bruised cheek. “Baby, all of the behavior from him was unacceptable and abuse. You never should be treated that way. How long has he been in jail?”

“He was arrested a few hours after I got off the phone with you. Some neighbors called the police because of the yelling coming from my apartment.”

Bella spent the next hour telling me about the incident with James and how the police showed up before he had the chance to rape her. She argued with me that it wouldn’t have been rape because he was her boyfriend and they had been in a sexual relationship for a few years. I finally got her to realize any forced sexual activity she didn’t want was rape. I wanted to fly to New York right away and kill James. I didn’t understand how he could hurt such a precious angel like Bella. I was happy to hear that Bella had pressed charges on him and that he was also being charged with assaulting a police officer. With any luck he would be in jail for a few years.

Renee interrupted us before I could tell Bella about my plans to hopefully move to New York. We spent the rest of the day making funeral arrangements for Charlie. That was one of the hardest days of my life. I wanted to break down and cry for the loss of a man who was like a father to me, but I couldn’t. I had to be strong for both Bella and Renee. I had to make decisions when they were too overcome with their grief and tears to speak.

The day’s events had left me both mentally and physically exhausted. I was thankful a few neighbors had brought over some casseroles. I was able to heat all of us some dinner without bothering Bella or Renee. They didn’t want to eat but took a few bites to appease me. They would need their strength to survive the next few days. Tomorrow night was the visitation and the next day was the funeral.

Bella and Renee spent the next day sorting through Charlie’s belongings. Renee packed a box for Bella to take wither her to New York. She’d given her a few of Charlie’s favorite flannel shirts, his favorite books, and his badge. As a child, Bella always loved it when Charlie would pin it to her shirt when he got home after a shift.

Once we had Bella’s box sealed and ready to ship to New York, Renee grabbed my hand and pulled me to her dresser.

“Edward, you were the son Charlie never had. Even after you and Bella broke up, he kept in contact with Carlisle to see how you were doing. He was so proud of you and how you excelled in your career.” Fresh tears started to trail down Renee’s cheeks. Her revelation of Charlie’s pride and love for me combined with her tears were my undoing. The flood gates opened, and I started openly weeping for the loss of this wonderful man.

Bella and Renee both wrapped their arms around me. We stood there holding on to one another for comfort and cried for the father and husband we had lost. After about thirty minutes, Renee wiped the tears from her eyes. “I’m sorry. I keep breaking down.”

“Renee, don’t apologize for your grief. You lost your soul mate. You owe no one any apologies.”

“I guess you two would understand that pain better than most people.” Renee got a determined look on her face. “It was always Charlie’s biggest hope that situations would change and the two of you would find your way back to each other. You two are soul mates and belong together. Please, for Charlie, for me, and most importantly for your happiness, work this mess out. You’ve already lost five years together. Don’t lose anymore. Before you know it, it will be too late and you won’t have any time left together.”

I looked over at Bella and was taken aback by the love radiating from her face. Now was the time to tell her about my plans for New York. I excused us from Renee and pulled Bella into her room.

“Bella, I need to talk to you about something important.” A look of fear shot across Bella’s face. I lead her to the bed and grabbed her hands as I sat next to her. “I promise its nothing bad.” Bella nodded her head for me to continue.

“After Tanya left I decide that I can’t live without you. I searched the EDS employee website and found a posting that the position I currently hold had just become available in the Manhattan office. It had been posted only a few hours earlier. I quickly put in my bid for it and emailed my supervisor to let him know what I was doing. I also looked online for apartments. Bella, it’s time for us to finally be together again. I can’t live without you any longer. I love you and don’t want to be without you ever again.” Bella threw her arms around my neck and attacked my lips. It only took a second for the surprise of her action to set in before I started to return her kiss. Our lips moved together at a frantic pace. It felt so good to kiss her passionately again.

“Hey, Bella, would you…oh, I’m so sorry. I’ll leave you two alone.” I looked up to see an extremely red-faced Renee retreating out of Bella’s room.

“Edward, would you really move to New York to be with me?”

“I would go to the ends of the earth for you, baby. I love you and refuse to live without you. If this position doesn’t come through, I’ll start looking for a job with a new company.”

Bella gasped. “You can’t do that. You’ve got a wonderful job. You don’t need to give that up.”

“I’d happily give up any job to be with you. I just wish I’d realized that five years ago.” Bella wrapped her arms around my neck and sobbed into my chest. “I’m so sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“You didn’t upset me. I’ve dreamt of you showing up at my door and pulling me into your arms and declaring your love for me for the past five years. I can’t believe it’s actually happening.”

Bella and I looked up when there was a light knock on her door. “I hate to interrupt, but we need to leave for the visitation in an hour.” Renee gave us a sad smile and left the room.

“Let’s talk some more about our future together in New York when we get home tonight.” Bella nodded her head, and we got ready to go to the funeral home.

That night was extremely hard for Renee and Bella. The entire town of Forks showed up to pay their respects to Charlie. He truly was a beloved member of the community. Although I didn’t know a lot of the people who showed up, it amazed me that they seemed to know exactly who I was.

A tiny older woman with bright red hair piled on top of her head pulled me down into a hug. “Son, I’m so glad you could be here. Charlie was real proud of you.”

“Thank you, ma’am. Nothing would’ve kept me from being here.”

“I can guarantee you he is smiling down from heaven right now seeing you and Isabella together.” She winked at me, patted my cheek, and walked over to Renee.

“What was that all about?”

“I honestly have no clue. I’m so lost tonight. Everyone seems to know exactly who I am.”

A man wearing a Forks Police Department uniform stepped up to Bella and gave her a hug. “Charlie talked about you about as much as he talked about Bella,” he told me. “He insisted that one day you’d officially be his son when you two got married.”

“Mark, did Dad talk about Edward a lot? Everyone knows exactly who he is.”

“Sweetheart, Charlie talked about you and Edward constantly. He had a picture of the two of you together on his desk. He’d tell anyone that would listen all about what the two of you were up to.”

I was in shock the rest of the evening. I never knew Charlie still held out hope for Bella and me. I thought for sure that he wanted to kill me for the way I broke his daughter’s heart. By the end of the night I felt extremely guilty that I hadn’t kept in touch with Charlie.

When we finally made it back to the house, I was extremely tense. I couldn’t get past the guilt I felt. Charlie was never anything but good to me, and I just cut him out of my life when I drove away from Bella five years ago. I jumped when I felt Bella’s hand on my shoulder.

“Edward, what’s wrong?”

“Bella, I never talked to Charlie after we broke up. He was like a father to me, and I just blew him off after we broke up. How could I do that to him? How could he still be so proud of me and sing my praises all over town?” I dropped my head into my hands and just sobbed.


Bella wrapped her arms around me. “Edward, please stop beating yourself up over this. Charlie wouldn’t stand for it. If he were here now I’m sure he’d tell you he’s just glad you finally got your head out of your ass,” she said, imitating Charlie’s voice.

I couldn’t help but laugh at her impression of Charlie. It was spot on and exactly what I needed to pull me out of my funk. “Thank you, Bella. You always know how to make me feel better.” We drifted to sleep that night wrapped in each other’s arms knowing that Charlie was smiling down on us from heaven.

The small church in Forks was packed for Charlie’s funeral. I recognized a lot of faces from the visitation but was surprised at the number of new people in attendance. Renee said most of the people I didn’t recognize were from neighboring towns. The fire marshal graciously overlooked the fact that the building exceeded maximum capacity.

Saying goodbye to Charlie was hard enough on its own, but witnessing the pain and loss Bella was going through was ten times worse. There was no way I could make this better for her. She held it together through the main service but fell to pieces at the grave side service. Seeing her father’s coffin above the hole in the ground signified to her that he was truly gone and never coming back. Bella and Renee wrapped their arms around each other’s waists and started to head to the car.

“Baby, I need just a minute. I’ll me you two back at the car.” She simply nodded and started walking toward the car.

The cemetery was now empty except for the workers waiting to lower Charlie into the ground and replace the dirt. Thankfully they stayed back and gave me my time to say goodbye. I walked up to the coffin and placed my hand on the top. I couldn’t stop the tears from pouring down my cheeks.

“Charlie, I’m so sorry for all of the stupid decisions and mistakes I’ve made these past five years. I never meant to hurt Bella or you. I loved you like a father and regret that I never kept in touch with you. I didn’t even get the chance to tell you what you truly meant to me. I know you always wanted Bella and me to get married, and I totally screwed that up, but I’m working on making that right. I refuse to let Bella slip through my hands again. If this all works out, I will ask Bella to be my wife. I know you aren’t here to answer but it feels wrong not asking you. May I please have your permission to ask for Bella’s hand in marriage?” I started sobbing uncontrollably once I that question passed through my lips.

My head snapped up when I felt a timid hand on my shoulder. “Edward, Charlie would love for you to ask Bella to marry you. Nothing would’ve made him happier.” Renee gently wiped the tears from my face. “Edward, he wouldn’t want you to feel guilty for the past five years. He would want you to learn from those mistakes and move on with your life. Please leave that guilt here and let it get buried with Charlie.”

“You’re right. I’ll do my best to get past the guilt.” Renee and I said another quick goodbye to Charlie and headed back to the car.

We spent the rest of the afternoon packing the rest of Charlie’s things. Renee handed me a box containing Charlie’s police academy t-shirts, a few pictures of us together, and his prized baseball card collection. I tried to refuse, but Renee wouldn’t hear it. She insisted it was Charlie’s wish for me to have these items. I relented and thanked her.

We were settling in for dinner when my phone started ringing. I was surprised to see my work number pop up. They knew I’d be out the entire week for the funeral. I hesitantly answered the phone.

“This is Edward.”

“Hey, Edward, it’s Jay. I’m sorry to bother you, but I thought you’d want to hear this as soon as possible.”

“Not a problem. What’s going on?”

“Well, you won the bid for the position in the Manhattan office. They’ll be ready for you in two weeks. You can stay in a corporate apartment until you can find your own place.”

I had totally forgotten about the transfer to New York. “That’s the best news I’ve had all day. Thanks so much for calling me.”

“Well, your email made it sound like this was an important move for you. I’m sad to see you leave, but I wouldn’t dream of keeping you here when you clearly want to be elsewhere. Thanks so much for being a great worker. Let me know if you need anything. I’m always here for you.”

“Thanks, Jay. I really appreciate this.” I hit the end button and smiled. I couldn’t wait to tell Bella, and I ran into her room.

“Edward, where’s the fire?”

“I’ve got the best news, baby. I got the job in New York. I start in two weeks. They’re going to set me up in a corporate apartment until I find a place.” I pulled Bella into my arms and twirled in a circle.

“That’s great, Edward. I can’t believe we’re finally going to be together. It seems so surreal. I’ve wanted this for the last five years.” Bella rested her head on my chest.

“I know, baby. I’m sorry for everything. I promise to never be that stupid again.”

“Edward, I know it’s been a while since we last shared an apartment, but would you like to move in with me?” Bella was biting her bottom lip.

“Of course I’ll move in with you, baby. I’m just so happy you still want me around.”

“I’ll always want you, Edward. Please, don’t ever forget that.”

I cupped her face. “Never,” I whispered before I gently kissed her lips, reveling in the feeling of Euphoria. As soon as I could get my grandmother’s ring from my mother I would ask Bella to be my wife. There was nothing I wanted more than spending the rest of my life kissing the lips of an angel like Bella.