The Cullen

I walked over to Edward. He had started breathing again. He put his hand on my cheek. I leaned into it. He was till smiling. I had big smile on my face that did not notice form. We were interrupted by someone’s thoughts that Edward answered.

“Yes, she is,” he said, still smiling.

“You look radiant, Lynn,” Esme complimented as she gave me a hug.

I returned the kind gesture. “Thank you,” I said blushing.

“We should be going. We don’t want to be late.” He grabbed me gently by the hand and lead me into the garage. We climbed into the Volvo.

I did not say a word until we were exiting Forks. “Where are we going?”

“Out. I knew Alice would slip and tell you, so now you will not know a thing until we arrive at our destination,” he retorted, completely dismissing my question.

I sighed and relaxed into the seat. I thought about all the lovely places where he could take me. Obviously somewhere special due to our attire.

He grabbed my hand, “Don’t worry; it will be fine.”

I thought about what could be so bad that would make my mother call and ruin my date with Edward. I realized my hair was crushing behind me, so I sat up straight, keeping my upper back and head from touching the seat. I would not want Alice mad at me for ruining my hair so early in the evening. I did not notice how fast we were going until I looked at the speedometer. The speed did not bother me; I was used to it by now. I just sighed again in annoyance.

“What?” he asked.

“Surprises aggravate me. I get impatient,” I confessed.

“Do you at least like surprises?”

“Depends. It better be a good surprise,” I teased. He just smiled and took my hand.

I was getting restless. It was agony not knowing where I was going. It could not say we because he knew where he was going. We arrived just in time for my sanity to remain intact. He got to my door before I could open it. I really didn’t realize we had parked. I was too out of it to really pay attention. I was thinking of all the places where we could possibly go.

I looked up at him in amazement as he opened my door- a true gentleman. He gave me his hand to hold onto as a stepped out of his car. We walked slowly to a nice, small restaurant. It was very private looking. There were little booths everywhere, not allowing others to peek inside of them. Of course, the restaurant had long tables for larger parties, but tonight, the party consisted only of two- Edward and I. He smiled down at me. I was speechless.

I waitress walked up to us to lead us to our booth. We sat in a very small, private area. Just like the entire restaurant, the booth was small and circular, almost not a booth at all. It was lovely. The waitress had asked if knew what we wanted to drink. It took me a moment to realize that she was speaking to us.

I looked up at her reluctantly; I did not want to tear my eyes away from Edward. I remembered a little fact that said not to drink tea with dinner. It steals the iron you get from the meal. I ordered water, as did Edward. She was back with our drinks shortly. I still didn’t tear my eyes from Edward as I sipped lightly from my glass. Before I could replace my glass on the table, a menu had been placed in its spot.

“I’ll be back shortly,” our unidentified waitress said.

“Are you going to eat or stare at me all night?” Edward asked amusingly.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “ I guess I’ll order something. Are you going to eat?” I knew that answer would be know; he does not eat human food. But what could it do to him?

“No,” he laughed.

“Will it hurt you to eat it?”

“No, but it will uncomfortable,” he explained.

“Oh ok. I’ll just appear to be the girlfriend who eats everything while her anorexic boyfriend sits there and watches,” I said.

“Oh that’s nice.”

“Yep.”

“If it will make you feel better, I’ll order something and try to consume it.”

“No, I don’ want you to be uncomfortable,” I reasoned.

“I’ll order whatever you get, take a few bites and get the rest to go for you later. I know you will be hungry soon enough after this.”

I gasped, a little offended actually. Sadly, though, it was true. I process my food pretty quickly. I had a fast metabolism from doing sports for doing sports for so many years.

“Sorry, I did not mean to offend.”

“You can’t be offended by the truth,” I half laughed. I opened the menu and nearly dropped it. The prices were outrageous.

“Don’t worry about the price; it is no problem. Trust me,” he reassured me.

I smiled weakly at him, still taken back by the prices. He interrupted me by asking a question.

“Hmm. I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you,” I said looking up from my menu.

“Do you like veal parmesan?”

“Yes, I do,” I answered.

“We’ll get that.”

I smiled and looked at the price of this dinner. Three people could have eaten for the price of just one of these. I smile weakly again. As promised, the waitress was back soon.

“What would you like tonight?” she asked, eyeing Edward.

“Um… two veal parmesan dinners, please,” he answered courteously. He didn’t even look at her while he answered. I blushed. “Is that right? He asked me.

The waitress looked at me with contempt. I nodded. I wonder why she look at me like that. In no time the food was ready and was placed in front of us. I got a few bites in before my phone let out the loud ring of “Emergency” by Paramore. This was my mom’s ring tone mainly because of that title. I gave Edward an apologetic look. He waved his hand nonchalantly. He didn’t seem bothered by me answering my phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Amber. It is so good to hear your voice. I have something very important to tell you,” she rushed out. She had to take a deep breath to refill her lungs.

I have been waiting for this all day. “What is it mom?” I ask casually.

“Your dad is coming to see you.”

How is that bad? It is not. “Okay, cool. Why don’t you come with him?”

“No, Amberlynn. Your real father is on his way to you. He will arrive there sometime tomorrow mid morning. I am so sorry to dump all of this on you. I really am. I wish-”

I cut her off, “What do you mean my real father, mom?” This is bad news.

“The man who you believe is your father is, in fact, not. Yes he does know you are not his, but loves you anyway.”

“Mom!” I screamed. “Hold on,” I ordered her harshly. I covered up the talk piece on my cell phone. “I am so sorry; I did not mean to scream. I’m going outside to handle this, okay?”

He nodded in concern

I knew what he was thinking. “You stay here. I’ll be fine.” He looked at me warily. As I stood, I could my legs denying the effort. My legs wanted to betray me and collapse. I would not allow this, not in front of Edward. When I reached outside, I had to grasp the wall for support.

“Go on,” I said coldly.

“I am so sorry Amber. I should have told you. He decided to all of the sudden to meet you. I slipped and told him where you are. I am so sorry,” she wailed,

I could barely feel the love I once felt for his woman. “Why now?”

“There is something you should know. He will explain it when he gets there.”

“Why can’t you explain I now?” my voice was flat with no emotion.

“I can’t explain it. It is too difficult to. He will be able to say it a lot better than I could ever. You won’t miss him. You will know who he is, even though you never met him before. He… he sort of stands out, you could say.”

I hung up this stranger. I did not want to hear anymore. Did she honestly think I would willingly go pick up the man who has denied for almost two decades? I would never meet him. I somehow managed to find the ground. Edward was by my side.

“What is it? Bella, are you okay?”

My eyes bulged at what he called me. He had realized what he said but could not take it back. I saw remorse in his eyes. I knew he was sorry, but the pain it caused was too much. I had been hurt so much tonight; this just made me want to die in a corner. I have been lied to for almost eighteen years by my mother and some man who is now a complete stranger to me. I was called by the name of Edward’s ex, dead love- Bella. I somehow managed to bring myself up to my feet and ran. Edward caught up with me in one second. He grabbed and hugged me. I had tears on my dress. These tears cause my make up to bleed, leaving marks on Edward’s shirt. I sobbed all the entire time back to the Cullen’s. He did not ask questions. I did not give any answers his eyes were asking. I felt numb.