Chapter 17

EPOV

The room was darker than it should be as I woke up; the blinds were still closed from Bella’s nap yesterday. She lay in my arms sleeping, her back against my chest. Her arms out in front of her face with the rope still secured to her restrained wrists. She looked comfortable. Instinctually I pulled her closer to my body, a sweet murmur of contentment coming from her, as she snuggled back into a comfortable position. I ran my hand through the softness of her hair, drawing it off her face and over her shoulder. She looked so sweet and innocent but I was beginning to know the depth of her passion. My Bella has an audacious nature, and how in the world her ex-husband didn’t harness that and keep it for himself, I’ll never know. But I’m glad he didn’t.

Then again maybe she came into herself when she left him. Either way, his loss is my gain. I moved my hand down over her shoulder, cupping her breast, so very soft and responsive. My dick was pressed up against her back, begging for attention, but it was going to have to wait a little longer. Reluctantly, I detached myself from her and she snuggled back into the pillows whispering in her sleep, “noo…don’t leave me.” Shaking my head and chuckling silently at her nocturnal discussions as I put on my boxers from last night.

“Come on Seth, let’s go out.” He followed me down the stairs and while he went out to do his business I started the coffee pot. I was happy with the way the weekend had worked out so far. Having the dog here was no problem at all; however, we would be gone all day and it would be better to take him back to Bella’s house before going to my parents. I used the downstairs bathroom before letting Seth in. After giving him fresh water and food, I headed back upstairs.

Bella looked like she was still sleeping when I entered the room, but her eyes cracked open.

“Good morning, Isabella.”

“Good morning, Master,” she smiled innocently.

God, I loved when she called me that, my dick that had calmed down before now stirred. She rolled on her back removing the comforter as she went. I watched her as she arched and stretched her body; she was absolutely gorgeous wearing nothing but the restraints on her wrists and my collar around her neck. If she kept that up, my dick wasn’t going to wait much longer.

Climbing back in bed, she rolled in my direction. I put my hand on her lower back tugging her closer to me, her leg hoisted over my hip, and she wiggled against my hard-on. Looking at me innocently through her lashes, her tongue peeked out wetting her lips before her teeth took a hold of the bottom one. I could tell my girl had something devious on her mind by the coy smile she was trying hard to conceal.

My hand wrapped around her bottom squeezing, “What does my Isabella have on her mind this morning?”

Her eyes grew darker and her breathing deeper as my hand slid through the wetness between her thighs.

“Tell me Isabella; tell your Master what you want.” I whispered the words over her lips before kissing her.

She tried to tug her hands free, but that wasn’t happening. When I pulled back, she sighed.

“Tell me Isabella, maybe you’ll get it.” My lips moved over her throat to the juncture behind her ear.

“I’m going to count to three Isabella and if you don’t tell me, it will be your loss… one…two…th…”

“Master your girl would like you inside her,” her voice broke through.

“I can do that,” I smiled. My fingers moved inside her in a circular motion, she hummed.

“Is this what you wanted Isabella?” Inserting another finger I began to slowly pump in and out of her.

“mmm…nooo.”

“No? You don’t like what I’m doing? You seem to like it.” My fingers picked up speed.

“Ohh…yes I...” she started.

“Who?” I added pressure to her clit with my thumb.

“Ahh…your girl, yes your girl likes it.”

“Hmmm, then why is my girl complaining?” Her breath was starting to quicken, and I could see the signs that told me she was getting close.

“Ohhh…your girl is not com..plaining…ohhh…she just was thinking…” Her legs started to tense up.

“What was she thinking?” I slowed down again enjoying the look of frustration on her face.

“Your girl was hoping that Little Eddie would go inside her”

I had to bite the inside of my mouth to keep from chuckling at her name for my dick.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know who ‘Little Eddie’ is. Besides I told you, I don’t share.” Curling my fingers inside of her, I watched as her eyes hazed over.

“Last chance Isabella.”
“Please Master, please fuck your slut,” she panted out a moan.

My fingers left her to be replaced with my dick, giving her what she asked for.

We laid there just enjoying the after effects of morning sex when Bella started fidgeting. I knew what her problem was, but I was going to make her ask. It didn’t take her long.

“Umm Sir, can your girl go to the bathroom please?”

“Yes she may,” I answered, but didn’t release her. Instead I got up pulling my boxers back on, making like I was leaving the room.

“Ummm Master?”

“Yes?”

“Your girl is stuck,” she pulled on the restraints to prove her point.

“So she is. I like her that way.”

She was quiet as I set about picking up my clothes from last night, placing hers on the chair. Her eyes never left me, and as I walked back to the door like I was going to leave, her voice became slightly panicky. “Master may your girl go, please?”

“I said she could.” She was confused and frustrated, and I was waiting for her to get the point all on her own. I was opening my drawers removing what I would need to take along today, and picking out the clothes I would wear.

“Master can this girl use the bathroom now. Please?”

I smiled at her, walking over to her. “Yes, you should have been that specific before, clear, precise questions. Do you understand?”

“Yes Sir,” she answered while I released her restrained wrist from the bed.

“Hurry up little one.” I grinned as I watched her run to the bathroom. She didn’t bother to shut the door and all I heard was a loud “Ahhh…” making me chuckle.

Coming out of the bathroom, she presented herself to me, and I removed the rope from around her wrist. It was braided nylon, there was no chafing or marks, but I rubbed the ointment in telling her that we would go have some coffee before showering to let it penetrate into the skin. I gave her one of my t-shirts to put on, thinking that I needed to have her bring at least a robe or some pajamas in here, so she has something. Although she does look sexy wearing only my shirt.

Down in the kitchen there was no reason to make a big breakfast, because we would be having brunch at my parent’s house. Instead, I requested a bagel with cream cheese and Bella made herself toast with jam. Once she was sitting we needed to talk about last night.

“Isabella, tell me your thoughts on the club.”

She took a drink of her coffee before answering. “Once I was comfortable I could relax and I enjoyed it. Are there always demonstrations?”

“Yes, usually.”

“Can they be anything? Is there a schedule so you know what is happening where and when?”

I sat back swallowing a bite of my bagel thinking about her questions. “In order to do a demonstration, you need to sign up for a time slot, and give a brief description of your… performance. So in a sense yes, there is a schedule, like I knew that the bondage demonstration would be in room B last night. That was another reason I wanted to go. I wanted you to see it, since you expressed interest in that area.”

Bella smiled as I continued to answer her questions. “On the stage there is no penetration allowed of any kind and no edge play permitted. Other than that, anything goes.”

She was still quiet, drinking her coffee. “Why was that Felix so interested in my collar?”

I finished my coffee, handing her the cup to refill. I watched her as I talked, “Felix made it, he owns a jewelry shop and makes custom pieces.”

“Oh,” she said putting the pot back on the warmer. She handed me the cup.

“I’m sorry about Tanya,” I apologized.

“It’s not your fault, and Rose sort of warned me,”she shrugged.

What? Warned her about what? I didn’t need to ask as she just continued on with her thought. “Rose told me I was walking into the lion’s den. Basically, she said that there are people who play and that they would try to mess with me to get to you.”

“When did she say this?” I wasn’t upset, I just didn’t know that Rose and Bella were that close that Rose felt the need to warn her about anything.

“Last night, in the bathroom.”

“Oh, was that her technicality?”

Bella smirked and then her face grew serious as she drew her lip between her teeth.

“What’s the matter?”

“I don’t want to get Rose into trouble.”

I chuckled, “Don’t worry about Rose, I won’t say anything. Now tell me your thoughts on the clamp.”

She made a face.

“You didn’t like it?”

Bella shook her head. “Not that I didn’t like it. It just became really …intense. It was getting harder to cope with, and I was starting to have a hard time ignoring it. Then when you took it off, oh my, that was something else. Then I was so sensitive, and every little touch sent shocks through me, it was kind of amazing.”

“Would you do it again?” I asked as I smiled at her.

She didn’t even think about it, she just answered, “Yes, I would,” making me grin, that’s my girl.

“How did you sleep with the restraints?”

She smiled taking a drink, “Surprisingly well, I didn’t even know that I had them on until I woke up. And they didn’t bother me until I had to go to the bathroom and couldn’t move. Which was not very nice by the way,” she glared at me.

I glared right back, “Lower your eyes Isabella. I answered your question as you asked it; you have to be very direct and precise with your questions. I’m not a mind reader, so don’t assume I know what you mean.”

I did know exactly what she meant, but I wanted her to understand that I expect exactness from her, not vagueness.

“Yes Master.”

I put my hand under her chin. “Look at me Isabella,” her eyes came up to meet mine. “I want to talk to you about today. My parents know about our relationship; however they don’t want it flaunted in front of them. So we can either cut our usual time short, or we can modify our approach.”

“Modify?”

“Yes well, obviously you would not call me Master or Sir. In fact you shouldn’t address me at all unless necessary. When you present yourself, don’t make it obvious, and talk in the first person.”

“Is that what you usually do?”

“In public yes, I’ve never taken anyone to my parents so, this is new to me too.”
Bella nodded, I could see her thinking, but she didn’t say anything.

After a minute I just decided for her. “I think it might be best if we cut our time short, since we haven’t been in public yet. Maybe we should not use my parents as a practice run.”

“I was thinking the same thing; I don’t want to mess up.”

“Ok then, once we leave the house…” I looked at the clock - 8:40 “…which is in an hour, our …usual will be over for the weekend.”

“It’s kind of sad to have it go away.” She got a glum look on her face.

“It will be back... So I can assume the weekend was acceptable to you?” I smiled at her.

“Yes it was very acceptable.” She beamed at me.

That was good to know, I wasn’t too tough on her. But I did enforce my rules, and she discovered more about what is expected of her. I ascertained more of her personality and physical responses along with a starting point for her limits, not too bad for a first weekend.

We showered and dressed. Today is a casual affair so I wore jeans and a white polo shirt with my black Nikes. Bella had on khaki Capri’s with a brown silk shirt and heeled sandals. I gave her my swimming items to place in the bag with hers along with the wrapped gift. We were ready to go and Seth was on his leash, before walking out the door, I took ahold of Bella kissing her soundly.

“You pleased me very much this weekend Isabella.”

“Thank you Master,” she smiled confidently.

We stood there in the doorway staring in each other’s eyes. She was right it is sad to let it go. With a deep sigh, I took her hand, “come on let’s go.”

The sun was shining, it was a beautiful day and if we had time it would have been nice to walk Seth home and take the bike. As it was we were running close on time. Bella quickly took the dog into her house, and I stopped to get a bouquet of flowers, finally we got to the ferry and it was just starting to load. Once aboard we got out of the car and found Emmet and Rose by the railing.

“Made it, huh? Thought I was going to have to tell mom you would be late.” Emmet had stopped for coffee and was handing it to us

“No, it took longer at the florist then I thought.” Bella thanked him for her coffee and started talking with Rose. Emmet asked what happened last night with Tanya and I gave him a quick rundown, watching Bella as I spoke. I could tell she was half listening- half talking to Rose.

I placed my arm across her chest, drawing her back against my body.
“So, what did you decide about next weekend?” I could feel her stiffen in my arms at Emmet’s question.

I glanced down at her telling Emmet that I would let him know.

Once we were back in the car, waiting to disembark I placed my hand on her knee giving a small squeeze.

“You alright babe?”

“Yes I’m fine, why do you ask?” Bella looked at me smiling.

“You seemed tense when Emmet mentioned next weekend,” I shrugged but continued to press, “You don’t want to go?”

Bella put her hand on top of mine. “It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just…”

“Just what?”

She sighed, “What about Seth and…”

The cars started to move and because we were one of the last ones on, we were the first to get off.

“Bella we can take Seth, that’s not a problem or if you would rather not, can’t Leah and Jacob keep him? Is that your greatest worry-the dog?”

“I’m not worried Edward.”

I glanced at her quickly as I drove, she definitely had something on her mind, I just had to figure out a way to get it out of her. Talk about frustrating. “Bella talk to me, what’s got your panties in a twist?”

Turning off the road onto the driveway, I was getting impatient. “Isabella?”

Her eyes met my sideward glance “Edward, can we talk about this later? Please?”

I wasn’t happy about it, but I nodded as we pulled to the end of the driveway and into the circular carport in front of the house.


BPOV

Edward turned left directly after the boat house that Peggy would be living in. The driveway was lengthy and surrounded by trees that seemed to go on forever. Finally, the car went around a curve and the trees separated allowing me to see the house. Perhaps house was an understatement; this was more like a mini castle. The home was stately, standing two stories tall and composed entirely of brick. The main entrance was at the end of a wide flagstone walkway with shrubs lining both sides all the way up to the house. On each side of the entry way symmetrical wings jetted out. Making the home look grand and dignified; to put it simply it was spectacular.

“Wow!” It was all I could say.

“Do you like it?”

I nodded, “It’s beautiful, and you grew up here?”

Edward was opening his door; “Yeah, I’ll show you where my mother used to measure us,” he chuckled then walked around to open my door.

Rose and Emmet had pulled in next to us, and as I took the black bag out of the car Edward took ahold of my hand and led me towards the house. The arched front door was made of inlaid glass and stood at least ten feet tall, opening to a foyer with another glass door that opened into the main area. The home seemed to be done in whites and creams. Ornate arch french doors were on both sides of the main entrance hall, with a prominent wide curved staircase directly in front.

Esme came to greet us kissing each of her sons and Rose before turning to me with a warm hug.

“Bella it is so nice to see you again, I’m so glad you could join us.”

“Thank you for inviting me. Your home is beautiful.” I smiled. It was better than beautiful but that was the only word I could think of at the moment.

“Thank you dear, Edward; show Bella around, so she knows where everything is.”

Edward took my bag, placing it by the stairs and then took my hand for the tour. Each room on the main floor opened into another with the same arched french doors. The rooms towards the back of the house opened onto the covered patio that looked out over the back courtyard. Everyone else was down there surrounding a large stoned hearth. Alice looked up and waved, I smiled waving back then looked past the gardens to the view of the water and the skyline of Seattle.

“Edward, this is amazing, it’s like straight out of a fairytale,” I murmured, because I just could not get over the awe of what I was seeing.

He grinned taking my hand, “This is my mother’s favorite spot.”

As I looked around at the plush cushions on the natural wicker furniture, it looked very comfortable and tranquil.

“I can see why,” I realized I was still whispering, and after clearing my throat I asked, “How do you get down in the courtyard?”

“I’ll show you, let’s finish the tour first”

Upstairs the right wing contained the master suite complete with his and her dressing rooms that were each bigger than my bedroom. There was also the laundry room and bathroom. On the left wing were four bedrooms, Edward’s was the second one down the hallway. He opened the door showing me the room where he spent his childhood. It was painted a muted blue with white woodwork. Coordinating bedding and drapes finished off the décor. Trophies for baseball and basketball lined a shelf over a student’s desk. A wooden entertainment center held a TV, video games and stereo system, the wall contained sports memorabilia and Seahawk posters.

Edward took my hand leading me over to the bed. He sat down, pulling me into his lap, gathering my hair; moving it all to one side, so he could rest his chin on my shoulder. “I can see your brain working, what are you thinking?”

I looked around the room “Right now I’m thinking you really like sports.”

“Yes I do,” he chuckled. Edward kissed my cheek. “Now let’s talk, tell me your concerns for next weekend, and I don’t want to hear about the dog.”

“It’s not a concern Edward; it’s more of an …observation.”

Edward didn’t say anything; he just waited for me to finish my thought. “Did you look at my calendar?”

He shook his head, “No, is there something next week?”

My hands held his playing with his fingers “No…not next week, but..,”

He sighed in exasperation taking my hands and swinging me so that I straddled his thighs.

“Isabella look at me.”

My eyes met his.

“I can be very patient, but I am not in the habit of having to work so hard to get the information that I request. I’m going to ask you one more time to tell me your concerns. Now.”

“I told you it’s not a concern, it’s an observation. Next weekend we have nothing but the following two we are busy.” He looked at me still not getting it. I furrowed my brow, looking down at his chest “I was just wondering when…if we aren’t home when...” I sighed and then just spit it out “When will we have our… usual?”

To my surprise he chuckled, “One weekend and you’re spoiled already.”

He thinks I’m spoiled? James always said I was spoiled. I could feel the hurt and the tears well in my eyes, and I tried to blink them away, trying to rid myself of the memories.

“Why the tears Isabella?” Edward’s hand was on my chin, lifting my head while his other hand wiped away the stray tear.

I sniffled not trusting my voice. He kept looking in my eyes waiting. I took a deep breath and then muttered, “You think I’m spoiled too?”

Edward’s eyes locked on mine and I could see perception dawn in them, then his arms wrapped tightly around me his hands running down the length of my hair. “No baby, poor choice of words. I don’t think you’re spoiled. What I meant was, one weekend of… the usual…” I could feel his grin against my skin, “… and now you don’t want to be without it.”

“Is that a bad thing?” I whispered softly, feeling kind of stupid for letting mere words wound me to the point of tears.

“No baby I would say that is a good thing.”

Edward’s eyes once again locked with mine for a few seconds before he kissed me. Just as the kiss was starting to make my insides smolder there was a knock at the door.

“You guys in there?” Alice’s voice broke through our building passion.

He smirked at me, “Yes Alice.”

“I’m coming in” The door burst open before I could get up off his lap. She stood eyeing us, making me feel self-conscious under her glare. “Emmet wants to eat and mom said not until you two come out, so wrap it up and let’s go.”

“You know, for someone so little you sure can be annoying.” I giggled at Alice’s mock hurt.

“Tell them we will be right down.”

Alice gave us a sideways glare exhaling in a huff, “Don’t make me come back up here,” she said in her best mommy voice.

“Yes ma’am,” Edward said, and I stifled a giggle as she left leaving the door wide open. He spun me to look at him, lightly touching my chin to make me look at him. “You alright?” I smiled but didn’t answer; he kissed my forehead. “We’ll finish this discussion later, right now we better get down there. The last thing we want is for Alice to have to come back up here.”

“She might spank us,” I said with bogus worry in my voice.

“That’s just too weird,” Edward replied, laughing.

I followed him back down the stairs retrieving my bag and purse. Edward picked up the flowers he brought guiding me to the lower level. Directly across the atrium was another tall arched doorway. He gestured to the left, “That’s the pool area,” and then to the right, “The game room and theater are that way. I’ll show you those after Emmet eats.” I snickered following him outside.

The spacious curved patio was made of the same flagstone that was out front. Wicker furniture set in various seating arrangements filled most of the space. Large free standing umbrellas provided shade over the groupings. To the far left stood the hearth that I had admired from the balcony, standing ten feet tall and least twice as wide. Seating arrangements were positioned in front of it; I found myself hoping that they would light a fire this evening so I would have a reason to sit there.

“It’s about freaking time, what the hell took you so long?”

“I was giving Bella a tour, sorry to interrupt your feeding schedule Emmet”

Jasper said hello as Alice hugged me, “Sorry I didn’t say hi upstairs, but Emmet was getting impatient.”

“That’s ok,” I said hugging her back.

Edward asked for the gift, handing it to his mother with a kiss on the cheek. “Happy Mother’s Day”

“Thank you darling.” She opened her gift while I said hello to Carlisle, who was sitting beside an older woman with thick silver hair.

Edward bent down kissing her cheek, “Hi grams, Happy Mother’s Day.” He placed the flowers on her lap.

“Thank you Edward, they are beautiful. Now, tell me who this lovely young woman is standing next to you.”

“Isabella Swan, this is my Grandma Cullen”

I took her hand, “It’s very nice to meet you.”

“As you dear, sit and talk to me.” I took the seat between her and Esme, who was gushing over the silver locket that contained a picture of her children that was taken when they were much younger. She got up to show Carlisle having him put it on her.

Edward sat in the chair next to his father and once the locket was in place Esme hugged her son thanking him again.

His grandmother turned her attention to me. “Tell me dear, how you two meet?”

This is one of those times where I had to think quickly. I didn’t imagine she would appreciate that I met him at a sex club, but I didn’t want to lie either. I looked to Edward for some help; he just smirked at me raising his eyebrows waiting for my answer.

“Well, actually he ran into me while I was walking in a door,” glancing over at him, he smiled. “He almost knocked me over.”

She beamed at me, and then peeked at Edward, “That’s how I met my husband.” I smiled at her as she went on reminiscing, “I was walking into Macy’s in New York, he held the door for me. Then he secretly followed me around until finally he got up enough nerve to ask me for coffee. We went to the food court and had coffee and shared an Ice Cream. We were married three months later.”

“Gramps stalked you, and you married him.” I stifled my amusement at Edward’s comment.

“Oh yes Edward, I knew when our hands touched - accidentally of course - in the doorway, that he was the one. I could feel the shock.” She looked at me, “I’m just glad he didn’t follow me into the ladies wear.” I giggled along with her. I could see Edward in my periphery lean forward, when I glanced at him, his eyes were down and he looked like he was engrossed in thought.



EPOV

I had heard that story many times, how they met at Macy’s. I don’t ever remember her saying anything about a shock. What kind of shock? Was it a one time thing or was it always there? They were giggling- something about ladies wear. My mother took her seat beside Bella.

“You alright Edward?” My mom asked in apprehension.

I raised my eyes, “Yes, I’m fine.”

Bella was watching me from the corner of her eye; I gave her a small smile trying to disguise my uneasiness.

“Edward, there is a few openings next spring in the residency program, you could put in your application early and take the refresher courses.”

I sighed, it’s not that my father bothered me about my wasted education, but he brings it up every now and then.

“I’ll think about it dad.”

“Well don’t think too long. If you want to apply, you should get it in by the middle of June.”

“Ok…Now if you all will excuse us, I’m starving.” I put my hand out for Bella to take, once her hand was in mine, that tingle went straight through my body. I stood for a second staring at our joined hands; Bella gave mine a little squeeze bringing me back to reality. When I looked up, I caught a grin on my grams face, she knew.

The food was set up in the shade under the balcony. Dad had ordered the typical brunch fare, French toast, Quiche, salads, fruit, muffins, scones, coffee and juice. I really was hungry so I filled my plate. Bella on the other hand, ate like a bird as usual. I didn’t say anything, as long as she followed her food plan, I would let it go.

Once we were seated, the women showed what they had gotten for mother’s day. Alice had two new charms for her bracelet from her children, and a full day spa treatment from Jasper. Rose was given the acupressure bracelet that Bella had talked about yesterday, and new earrings. My father was taking my mother out tomorrow night for dinner and the theater and they were going to stay overnight at the Fairmont Hotel.

Bella admired all the gifts, but as I talked with the men I couldn’t help but notice the small glimmer of sadness in her eyes. It brought to mind what Jacob had said, ‘she will be lucky if she can ever have children’ I wondered if the cause of her distress was that fact, or was she thinking of her own mother. Or maybe I was reading too much into it and she just had to burp. That last thought made me smile.

“Yo, earth to Edward,” Jasper brought me out of my contemplation.

“What? Sorry I was thinking” I tried to focus.

“Was it about the cabin next weekend?”

“Would you shut the fuck up about next weekend.” I said fixing Emmet with a stare

“Edward!” my mother admonished my language.

“Sorry Mom,” I said, as Vinny announced that Uncle Eddie said a bad word.

Emmet couldn’t help but chime in, “Yeah little Eddie, watch what you spit out.”

Bella went into a fit of giggles; she looked at me and laughed harder. I knew what she was fucking laughing at, her pet name for my dick. I tried to fix her with a stare, but it wasn’t working and I ended up chuckling right along with her.

“What’s so fucking funny?”

“Emmet!” my mother was more annoyed.

“That’s it, come on kids lets go swimming,” Alice announced while Emmet apologized for his cursing.

“I swear I raised these boys right.”

Dad and Jasper took the dishes and utensils into the downstairs kitchenette while Emmet and I broke down the tables putting them and the warming trays away. When we got into the pool area, the women were already changed and conjugating in the far corner. Alice was in the pool, holding Mia in some blowup chair. Rose and Bella were sitting on the edge with their feet in the water, while mom and grams sat half submerged on the steps watching Vinny wow them with his back flips.

“Hey! Uncle Emmet, Uncle Eddie, watch this”

He ran from the other side, sprung off the end, flipped once and hit the water with a huge splash.

“That was cool dude.” I agreed with Emmet as he swam back to the edge to do it again. Rose told Emmet that his suit was in the changing room. Bella stood up she was wearing a short little pink and white dress, and I assumed her swimming suit was underneath.

“I have your suit over here,” she walked over to a lounge chair handing it to me.

“Thanks babe,” I said as I flung it over my shoulder.

“Your welcome just put your clothes in the bag when you’re done.”

I smirked at her “Don’t you want to help me?” I leaned close so I could whisper in her ear, “You could shake hands with Little Eddie.”

She gasped and then giggled, I chuckled pulling her to me by her hips. “I couldn’t help it Edward, it was too funny.”

I kissed her softly talking against her lips, “You might just pay for that one.”

Bella blushed the most beautiful shade of pink, looked up at me innocently through her lashes, releasing her bottom lip from her teeth, “Promises, Promises,” she said with raised eyebrows and a mischievous grin. Fuck, the growl was released without my permission as I held her face in my hands while I kissed her.

It took every ounce of strength I had to keep the kiss from going too far. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind I remembered where I was, and as I pulled away I reminded her, “I never break a promise Isabella.” She did that eyebrow thing again, biting her lip and blushing. I sighed, “You’re killing me woman.”

When I looked over I became aware that our exchange had become the focal point of the room. Their expressions raged from shock, fascination, delight, and poor Vinny was wrinkling his nose and shaking his head like he smelled something foul. I just smiled at them, leaving Bella there while I went to change.

When I came out, Jasper was rounding the kids up to put down for their naps and grams was going to lie down as well. Alice went into the kitchen with mom to make some drinks while Bella and Rose sat in the lounge chair laughing about some cat woman. Once everyone was back in the pool area, Bella took off that dress thing she had on revealing the pink two pieces underneath, before getting in the water.

Emmet wanted to play water volleyball, and Alice insisted that the teams didn’t contain any couples. Bella was on the other team with mom, Emmet and Jasper. She played like a girl, but she seemed to be having a good time. I got slightly pissed when she and Jasper were going for the ball at the same time tangling themselves up and going under the water. They came up laughing and Emmet informed them that the object of the game was to get the ball over the net.

She sort of redeemed herself when mom hit the ball and Bella tapped it over to Alice who completely missed it, earning a team high five. Needless to say their team won, making dad and I call for a rematch.

They won the second game too putting an end to the competition.

The girls refilled their drinks and dad brought us all a beer. Bella was sitting on the edge of the pool; I went over standing between her legs, taking her hands so they wrapped around my chest pulling her into the water with me. Alice was sitting on Jaspers lap on the steps and Emmet held Rose against his chest with her legs floating in front of her. While mom and dad sat on the edge with their legs in the water. It was nice to have Bella with me; I was always alone while my family sat together as couples.

“Ok, so Tuesday mom is going to come to my house, before I take Vinny to school. Do you want to meet at my house or somewhere else?” Alice wanted to get her schedule down and was asking Rose and Bella.

“You know Alice, I was thinking after lunch I could take Mia home for her nap; and then if you’re not done I could get Vinny from school for you,” my mother offered.

“Are you sure?”

Mom beamed wide at my dad. “I’m hoping to be very tired after tomorrow night.”

That comment earned a collective, “Ah gross!”

Mom laughed as she stood up. “Help me bring out the snacks dear,” dad got up and followed her.

I took a hold of Bella’s legs under the water wrapping them around my waist, letting my hand skim over thighs while Alice thought out loud. “Plan to meet at my house at ten, Mom can take Mia in her car, that way she has the seat and we can all go together.”

Bella spoke up, “That’s ok, but I have yoga at three, so I need to be back close to two.”

“Can’t you skip yoga?”

“No, I can’t”

Alice pouted and was pleading with her eyes. Bella whispered in my ear, “Tell her I can’t.”

I smirked, “She can’t miss yoga.”

Alice’s face was full of scorn, “You mean I have to rearrange a whole day because of your kinky sex stuff?”

“Alice!” I admonished her while Emmet and Jasper laughed; Bella buried her head in my neck.

“Alright, alright, sorry....” Alice huffed. “Could you take an early morning class?”

I felt her shrug on my back, “Only thing is I go with Leah.”

“Is Leah still doing yoga?” Rose was curious.

“Yeah, she thinks her ass is big,” Bella explained.

“Am I going to get a big ass?” No one had a chance to answer Rose because Emmet interjected, “That’s ok baby, it’s just a bigger target,” he leaned down kissing his wife’s cheek. “Which reminds me, did you tell little Bella, how big my dick was?”

Bella and Rose responded with a resounding, “No!” while Alice went further, “No one cares how big your dick is.”

Rose giggled, “Well, I wouldn’t go that far.” Bella held me tighter giggling in my neck.

“How the hell did we start talking about Emmet’s dick?” Jasper asked confused.

I answered, “I don’t know, but can we not do it anymore?”

“Why don’t you see if Leah wants to come…?” Alice questioned

“All women want to come, ask little Bella, she had to write…”

Bella gasped and before I knew what she was doing, she jumped on Emmet’s back pulling him down into the water, taking Rose along, when he came back up, Rose grabbed his legs and Bella pushed him back under again. After he resurfaced Bella had him in a head lock, “Don’t you talk about my orgasm anymore!” She snarled in his ear, surprising me and making everyone else chuckle.

“Alright, alright, dude control your woman here!”

Mom and dad came back in carrying trays, “Emmet would you leave Bella alone?” mom warned.

“Would I leave Bella alone? She attacked me!”

“I’m sure you deserved it,” dad said knowingly, as Bella took her spot back on me squeezing me around the neck.

“It’s all your fault, you did it on purpose,” she whispered in my ear.

I laughed pulling her head forward for a kiss.

“Damn dude, if I was you, I wouldn’t piss her off.” I grinned at him.

Once everyone stopped laughing, Alice wanted to know if Leah would want to go and if they could change their class time. Bella said she would ask, but if not, then she had to be back at Alice’s house by two. With that settled, we got out of the pool, just as Vinny came back down.

Mom had brought out the salads from earlier along with cheese, crackers, shrimp and pâté, which I was going to make Bella try. The girls pulled the lounge chairs closer to the pool and sat there eating and talking, I sat on the side of Bella’s chair placing the cracker in front of her mouth, and she wriggled her nose, waving it away.

“Just try it” I coaxed, but she shook her head.

“Isabella, try it…,” I leaned over to whisper in her ear, “…maybe you’ll get a reward.”

She smiled brightly, opening her mouth. I watched her face as she chewed, she didn’t show any sign of distaste, “See, it’s not so bad.”

“It’s not so good either.” She said, making me chuckle while she took a long drink. Perhaps that will be one of the things I force her to eat. It won’t hurt her; but it will further instill into her a sense of being owned.

The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging around, talking and laughing with my family. Around six dad started the grill, taking orders for how people wanted their stakes cooked. Half an hour later we were gathered around the patio tables to eat. Dad stood to make a toast:

“Mom, you have always been a rock to me. Esme, thank you for loving me and giving me three wonderful children, and to my children, thank you for the grandchildren. Those that are here and those that are yet to come, may they give you as much joy as mine have given to me. To all mothers…”

We all agreed with a “Salute!”

Dad sat back down after kissing gram on the cheek and then mom. It’s heartwarming that after thirty-two years of marriage they still love each other very deeply. Talk around the table centered on what activity Alice had planned for the evening, but she was tight lipped and wouldn’t tell. Apparently Jasper didn’t know, or else he was sworn to secrecy.

“Bella, Carlisle was telling me about the walk-a-thon. Is that the only fund raiser the center does?”

She swallowed before answering mom, “No, they do three major fundraisers, the walk-a-thon, a holiday gala and auction, and then a dress sale.”

“What’s a dress sale?” Grams asked.

“Umm…dresses get donated, either new from stores or hardly worn from people, and in March we sell them for twenty-dollars each, just in time for proms. People travel hours to come to it. The dress sale actually is our best money maker.”

“I think I saw that advertised at Neiman Marcus,” Alice commented.

“It’s possible; I don’t know where they advertise. I don’t do fund raising, I’ll go and work, but someone else is in charge of that.”

“How many volunteers are there Bella?” Jasper surprised me with his question.

Bella thought for a second, “In total, I don’t know seventy-five maybe eighty? There are eight central committee heads, and then the people who work on those specific committees.”

Grams, who was sitting next to Bella took her hand, “And what do you do dear?”

Dad spoke up before she could answer, “Bella does counseling, and placement. Which she is very good at I might add.”

Bella looked to my dad, and they seemed to share a common memory. I knew it was irrational, but it pissed me the fuck off. I figured I better calm down so I asked a question, because honestly I didn’t know much about the center and I was curious.

“What other committees are there?”

Bella took a drink then sighed, I could see her thinking. I knew she hated being the center of attention, but I also knew that the center was very important to her. She started counting them off on her fingers “Well the hot-line, that’s open twenty-four hours, Court, someone to go to court to provide support, there’s a group who organizes all the outside agencies, which I’m sure is who contacted Carlisle.” Dad nodded “umm…let’s see then there is the shopping crew, they get the supplies that are needed, the cleaning crew, and the clothing crew. I think that’s it.”

“What does the clothing crew do?” Alice asked.

“They sort and wash all the donated clothing.”

“You take donated clothing?”

Bella nodded to Rose and then responded, “Yes, any and all. These women and their children come with nothing. No money, food, clothes. They’re scared; most don’t even know how to balance a check book. They are so beaten down, not just with bruises but their self-esteem.”

“What do you do with them?” grams wanted to know.

“We hide them,” Bella said mater-of-factly. “We hold their hand, give them support, medical treatment, and empower them with basic skills, help them find a job and a safe place to live. So they can go out into the world strong, unafraid and survive.”

Bella had tears in her eyes; I wrapped my arm around her shoulder, kissing her hair. When I looked up Rose wiped a tear away, as well as my mother.

“You know in my day, it was all hush, hush and kept quiet; but now with the laws it should be easier for women to get help and be safe.”

“Unfortunately that’s not the case. Women are still treated as second class citizens, and a man will get more jail time for beating his dog then for beating his wife or child. The only recourse a woman has is to get a PFA- protection from abuse order- and all that does is causes the man more legal problems after he has broken it. If, she can prove it, he can terrorize her, stalk her, and threaten her all he wants. Because unless she can prove it’s him, there is nothing anyone can do about it. And fear is the abusers number one weapon. It’s what keeps women from seeking help or getting better. That keeps him in control, and they get very mad when their control starts to slip. We’ve had volunteers threatened, windows broken, tires slashed, yeah they get really mad.”

“And you do this because…?” Grams wasn’t being nosey, she just was trying to understand.

Bella was quiet, contemplating her answer, finally whispering, “Someone has to.”

I squeezed her leg letting her know that I was there.

“Can anyone go in the walk-a-thon?”

Dad answered Rose, “Yes, I was hoping that maybe we could make it a family outing. I’ll bring home some forms for you.”

Finally Bella smiled, “The more the merrier.”

The dinner conversation changed to a more pleasant talk about what show mom and dad were seeing tomorrow, along with plans concerning next weekend, which I still hadn’t settled with Bella. I figured we would be going, it was just the details that had to be worked out.

The women sat around the fire in the hearth relaxing, while we men cleaned up the dishes and brought out desert. Dad had two different cakes; one was a rich chocolate with dark chocolate icing and chocolate shavings on top. The other was a dark chocolate three layer cake with white icing and walnuts.

“I never knew women liked chocolate so much,” I pondered outloud.

The three of them looked at me, like I just said the world was flat.

“Dude, are you serious?” I nodded at Emmet.

“To a woman, chocolate is like another food group.” my father laughed at Jaspers comment.

“Wait until it’s…that time of the month. Rosie would hoard the shit in her purse.”

“What?” Bella was going to hoard chocolate and eat it all the time?

Emmet tried to explain, “They can’t help it Edward, it’s like a chemical imbalance in their brain or something. If they don’t get it, well let’s put it this way, your little pussy cat is going to turn into a furious lion,” they all laughed at my bewildered expression. Emmet went on asking “How do you not know this?”

Jasper put his hand on my shoulder, “In Edwards’s defense, he’s really never dealt with the day to day contact of a woman. Their emotional changes, the PMS…”

“The changing their mind every five minutes,” Dad said handing me the coffee café.

“Oh and my personal favorite: ‘Does this make me look fat?” Emmet said turning to show us his butt, while they all laughed.

I just stood there taking this all in, “Are you shitting me?” that made them laugh even more.

Each of us had something to carry and we were walking out the patio door when it hit me “Wait, how did you answer the fat question?”

All three men stopped walking in their tracks, simultaneously answering “No!”

Emmet looked me in the eye with a very serious expression. “You always say, ‘No, you look fantastic baby’.” Jasper and dad nodded in agreement. As we started towards the women I looked at Bella and could not imagine her doing the things they were talking about. But apparently all women did this stuff, even my mother? No, they had to be wrong.

I cut a small piece of each cake for Bella and me to share along with our coffees. While we were sitting there Alice explained what we were going to be doing tonight. Charades, boys against the girls, best two out of three the losing team has to sing a Karaoke song of the winning teams choosing. She gave us time while she and Jasper put the kids to bed to decide what song we would choose, writing it down for gram who was going to be the time keeper and judge. It seems that grams was in on this because to keep it fair, she was the one who came up with the phrases we were going to act out.

The fire was lit in the hearth; dad had the patio lights on so we could see. It had come down to the third round. First team to act out all six phrases wins. We needed the last one, and from what I could tell the women were on their fifth. Emmett was acting ours out; we already knew it was a movie. He was holding his hands together like he was praying – one of the girls yelled Fried Green Tomatoes – and Alice stood to do the last phrase – I turned my attention back to Emmett.

Now he is pointing up…
“Prayer up”
“Praying halo”
Then he was making a cross with his finger…
“Jesus”
He started waving his hand encouraging us for more…
“Jesus”
“Savior”
“God!” Jasper yelled and Emmett started nodding
The women were yelling out words.
Emmett pointed to dad…
“God-dad”
“God-husband”
“God-Father”
The Three of us yelled, “The God father!!”
“Yes!” Emmett fist pumped in the air.

The women all moaned, “aww…what was it Alice?”

My sister sounded dejected, “Black tie event.”

“Damn,” Rose muttered.

“Alice, why were you holding your hair?”

“It’s black Bella!”

They broke out in fits of giggles.

“Couldn’t you guess that Bella?” My mom asked through her laughter.

Bella shook her head laughing, “No!”

Rose was still laughing, “Why didn’t you point to your shoes?”

“Because then you bitches would have been saying toes and feet, you couldn’t even get it from my hair!” Alice complained.

“But your hair isn’t black.” Bella stated, blinking at Alice.

“It’s close enough Bella, Mom isn’t my hair black?” Alice turned to Mom for support while everyone began laughing again.

“No, honey it’s not.” My mother was laughing just as hard.

My father cleared his throat loudly, four pair of eyes turned to look at him.

“You women lost; mom give them their song.”

Grams handed my mom the folded paper, she took it with a smile on her face.

Mom opened it up and then looked at dad, “You’ve got to be kidding?”