A Woman of Conviction Ch 18
Chapter 18
BPOV
It’s been almost two
weeks since Lucian disappeared and Edward and I reconciled. I can’t believe
that I didn’t trust his intentions with me.
We’re basically back to
where we were at the time of our first date, although we did have a bit of an
argument when he brought the new rental agreement for me to sign.
“This says that the
utilizes are still included?” I looked at him in disbelief.
“Yes, is there a problem
with that?”
I raised my eyebrow at
him. “I want to pay the utilities separately.”
“Why?”
“Because I can.”
He shook his head.
“I don’t want you to
lose out on money, Edward.”
He laughed humorlessly.
“I’m not losing anything. There haven’t been any tenants in this apartment for
at least five years.”
“Okay,” I sighed, and
signed the new rental agreement.
We haven’t been on a
second date, but I’m hoping we can go after today. Today is the court date with
Jake to finish terminating his rights and paying me back child support.
I am a bundle of nerves.
“Baby, it’s going to be
okay. Just relax.” Edward wraps his arm around my shoulders.
“If you say so,” I
chuckle, leaning in. Jasper, Irina, and Tanya walk up to us.
“This is it. As long as
he doesn’t contest anything, you’ll be done with Jacob Black for good.” Jasper
gives me a comforting smile.
“Do you think he will?”
I ask nervously.
“I don’t think so, but
if he does, we’ll deal with it.”
“Okay.” I let out the
breath I’ve been holding and follow Jasper and Irina into the courtroom.
We take a seat while we
wait for our case to be called. I can’t help but look around the room and my
breath hitches when I see Charlie and the woman from the game tucked over in a
corner as if they don’t want to be seen.
“Bella?” Edward says my
name questioningly.
I turn to face him.
“Charlie is here.”
Edward turns to where I
was just looking. I hear a slight growl escape from him. “What the hell does he
think he’s doing here?”
That’s a good question,
and I’ve never been so thankful that the boys are in school. I could not bear
the thought of them here, knowing that most likely I’ll have to confront
Charlie.
“I don’t know, I can’t
focus on that right now.”
After a few minutes our
case is called. We go up to the front with Jake and his fiancée and his lawyer.
The bailiff calls us to
order as the judge shuffles through our paperwork.
“Okay, Ms. Swan wants
parental rights terminated and back child support paid up to the point in time
of the rights being terminated. How does your client feel about this, Mr.
Gallant?” The judge looks over his glasses at Jake’s lawyer.
“He agrees to the
terms,” Mr. Gallant answers.
I feel a weight lift off
my shoulders and a breath escapes me in a laugh.
I turn around to Edward
and he has a big smile for me. It’s over, Jake can never bother us again.
Jake doesn’t even give
us a second look as he and his woman walk out.
Edward takes my hand as
Jasper and Irina finish up the paperwork for us. Tanya is waiting for Irina so
they can go celebrate their anniversary. As we walk out, I see Charlie and his
wife with Jake and his girl; they look like they’re arguing.
I feel myself walk over,
having to know. I need to know.
“Charlie!” I call out to
him, clinging to Edward for strength.
They all turn my way.
Jake rolls his eyes and leaves, pulling the woman with him.
Charlie looks like a
fish out of water, gasping for air.
“Hello, Bella,” his wife
greets me with a smile.
This seems to snap
Charlie out of his shocked state. “Bella.”
“I need to know why?” I
finally ask the question that has been dying inside of me for so many years.
He doesn’t meet my eyes,
and Sue gives me a sympathetic look.
“I figured Mr. Cullen
here would have showed you the files he has.”
Burning rage fills me
up. “So I have to find out from another source because you’re too coward to
tell me what I did wrong? Why you had to kick me and your grandsons out on the
streets? Do you even know how bad it was for us? Did you even care about your
grandsons?” I feel the tears streaking down my cheeks.
He finally looks at me.
I don’t see the man from many years ago. I see an old man with so many ghosts
haunting him. “I’m sorry.”
I let out a haunted
laugh. “I don’t want your pathetic excuse of an apology. I want to know why.”
“Maybe we can get lunch
or something so I can tell you.”
I look away and to
Edward who is shaking slightly. “Do we have time?”
He sighs and takes out
his phone. “Not today. The kids will be out in an hour.”
Should I bother finding
out? Is he worth it? “Can I call you to set something up?”
Charlie nods his head.
“Yeah, here.” He takes out a card from his back pocket and hands it to me. I
take it gingerly and put it in my purse. I lift my hand in a wave and they do
the same.
The car ride is quiet.
“Do you think I should
have lunch with him?” I finally ask Edward.
He seems like he’s
pondering his answer. “If it’s something you think you need, then yes, I think
you should.”
I nod my head. “I feel
like there is a ‘but’ coming.”
He smirks. “I don’t like
the man. I think what he did was despicable. He put his only child and his only
grandchildren on the street to fend for themselves.”
We arrive at the school,
waiting for Lucian and Damon to come out. “Can I see the files you have?”
“Sure, baby, we’ll stop
by the office on our way home.”
Home, our home. To be
honest, Edward has been staying with us since we reconciled. The boys love it
and so do I. I wonder if we should just make the leap and live together, but
then we haven’t even said the three important words to each other.
I’m sure that what I’m
feeling is love. But I also thought that of Jake. Fuck!
The boys climb in the
car and start talking about basketball. Edward takes it all in, saying he’ll
help them and asking when tryouts are and whatnot.
The stop at the office
is a quick one, and before I know it, we’re back to the apartment. We do our
routine of helping the boys with homework followed by making dinner together.
We are a family. Lucian starts asking questions about basketball, and Edward
easily answers them.
“We’ll have to hit the
store this weekend and get a basketball so we can practice,” Edward tells me.
“Sounds good.” The
nerves have been eating away at me, since I know all the secrets of Charlie and
Jake are just there in the bag hanging on the kitchen chair.
“You okay?” He stands
behind me, and I turn and bury my face in his chest.
I take a deep breath,
allowing his strong pine scent to surround me. “I will be.”
Finally, the boys go to
bed and Edward and I are sitting comfortably on the couch. The manilla folders
are sitting in my lap waiting for me to open them. They’ve been there for ten
minutes.
“You don’t have to read
them, baby,” he murmurs in my hair.
“How bad are they?” My
nerves seep into my voice.
I hear his gentle sigh.
“It’s not good, but I think a strong woman like you can handle it.”
Feeling very confident
from those words, I open the first folder.
Hurt, anger, and just
pure hatred comes over me when I see what Jake has done. “He’s a pedophile.” I
finally manage to come up with words for what I’m reading. I just stare at the
fact that my boys have four sisters. And they are all six and under.
“How the hell did he get
away with this? All these girls.” I bring my hand to my mouth, trying not to
throw up.
“Honestly, from what we
could gather, his dad paid off a lot of people from filing charges, and of
course none of the girls’ parents wanted Jake near them or their grandkids, so
they easily agreed to sever rights.” You can hear the disgust in Edward’s
voice.
I shut the folder and
put it on the coffee table. That means this next one is about Charlie. I peel
at the edges; do I really want to know? Will this give me any answers?
“Do you think I should
wait and see what he has to say?” I scoot away so I can look at Edward’s face.
“Baby, if you want to,
that’s fine. This file isn’t going anywhere.” He leans down and captures my
lips. I can’t help but moan in pleasure.
“Should I tell the boys
about having siblings?” I ask we when finally pull away.
“What does your amazing
mothering instinct say?” Oh, he is so good at avoiding my questions sometimes.
“It says that I should
probably talk to them about it sometime. I don’t want them to get the
information the wrong way, someday.”
“That might never
happen. Considering that they’re spread through the country, and who’s to say
they even know about having other half-siblings?”
What Edward says makes
some sense to me. “Maybe. I think I need to think about it.” I look at him and
something in my stomach flips.
“Maybe you should think
about while we’re in bed.” His voice is rich, like chocolate. His eyes are
dilated.
Comments
Post a Comment