A Woman of Conviction Ch 21

Chapter 21
BPOV

Christmas had never been the greatest time of year for me. Every year I worked so much over time just, so I could get the kids one new outfit each and a few toys, and I had to pull off that Santa was real. That was the hardest part, because Santa brought the other kids expensive gifts and Santa only brought my boys clothes and two toys that were cheap.

This year, this Christmas, I went all out. Not just in presents. With Edward and with being a family unit, I decided we needed to do some family activities such as making gingerbread houses, and baking lots of cookies to hand out to local shelters. And we also decided to let the boys call Edward Dad, considering he has been more of a father than their sperm donor.

We also had Christmas Eve over at Edward’s parents house with Tanya and Irina. I never thought that the boys and I would have such a big family. Of course, they’re coming over to our place for Christmas dinner.

Edward has been a saint with me working more with Heidi than him and he gave me the green light for the center for single parents. I got all the girls involved to help me with it. But I won’t be able to really delve too much into it until Heidi launches the fanfiction publishing site and the few books that will be releasing with the site.

“I can feel you shaking with excitement, babe.” Edward’s voice is thick with sleep.

“I’m sorry.” My voice vibrates with the thrill. It really shouldn’t be, considering it's four in the morning.

His arm wraps around my waist, pulling me into him. He sighs in contentment when his face reaches my hair. “Try to relax, baby, the boys will open their stockings and probably come wake us up after.”

“I know,” I murmur, closing my eyes. With his arms around me and his scent surrounding me, it puts me to sleep moments later.

“Oh. My. Gosh. MOM! DAD!”

The sound of the kids hollering for me and Edward wakes me up out of a dead sleep. I want to leap out of bed and join them in the living room, but Edward and I are intertwined, stopping me. I hear his sleepy chuckle.

“Wake up!” I hear Damon yell through our door. I glance at the clock and it reads six am.

“We’re up! We’ll be out after we’re dressed,” Edward answers him while still snuggling into me.

I start giggling when I see little feet at our door again. “Come on, baby, our boys are waiting for us.” I managed to wiggle out of the octopus grasp he has on me to grab my robe.

“They are so lucky they’re cute, and that I love them,” Edward mumbles as he gets his own robe.

I walk over and kiss him. “They love you so much, maybe as much as I love you.” I smile at his twitching lips.

We walk out to the living room where Lucian and Damon have decided to split the presents up into piles, and they’re shaking the different packages.

“I think this is a game,” I hear Lucian whisper to Damon.

“Morning, boys,” I greet them as I sit on the couch. Edward sits next to me, wrapping his arm around me and allowing me to cuddle into his side.

“Morning, Mom, can we open gifts now?” Lucian asks excitedly.

I take my phone out of my robe pocket and make sure the camera is on. “Alright, boys, dig in,” I chuckle.

It begins to rain wrapping paper as they tear into their presents. I don’t think I can put into words how amazing it feels to watch them open the gifts that Edward and I got them together. My heart feels so full.

After the boys get done, I see two small piles left.

“Your turn, Dad.” Damon grabs one of the piles of wrapped gifts. I smile, remembering the day the boys and I went shopping for him. I hope he likes what we got for him.

He grabs the first gift. “To Dad, from Lucian.” Edward smiles and tears the paper off the box. It’s a black tie with thin red stripes. Then there is a small card underneath reading Tie of the Month Club. Edward chuckles and looks at Lucian who is nibbling his bottom lip. “I love it, thank you, Lucian.”

Lucian lunges over and gives him a hug. Edward pats his back and mumbles how much he loves him, and Lucian finally lets him go so he can continue opening gifts.

“This seems to be from Damon.” Edward gives Damon a smile. He rips the paper off the box, revealing some shirts. The first one is all black with a superman- style Dad written on it. Edward grins while looking at it before setting it aside and grabbing the next one that reads My dad’s the greatest coach.

“I needed new shirts, I can’t wait to wear them.” Edward gets up and hugs Damon.

He grabs the last package now. I can hear my blood pumping in my ears as I watch him unwrap it. He pulls the papers out. “Bella,” he gasps and looks at me.

I smile. “What do you think?”

Damon and Lucian go over and wrap themselves around Edward.

“We love you so much, would you adopt us?” Lucian asks Edward.

Edward sets the papers down and grabs up both boys. “I want that more than anything.”

Not able to stay away from my three boys, I wrap myself into the hug as well.

After the emotional moment, it’s my turn to unwrap my gifts. Damon got me some cute shirts much like Edward’s, only saying Mom. Lucian, obviously with Edward's help, got me a MOM charm bracelet with their birthstones. I grab the last box and open it up to see a picture of a gorgeous home.

I look up at Edward, who is wearing a sheepish grin.

“Did you buy it already?” I ask, trying to keep my voice from shaking.

“Technically, no, but I have managed to have it put on hold until you give me the okay. Maybe after we eat we can go look at it.” Edward is running his hand through his hair.

“I think that’s an excellent idea,” I say warmly. At least he hasn’t bought it yet. I look at the picture again.

“What can you tell me about it?”

“It has a huge yard, Mom, and a cool basement, oh, and almost all the rooms have their own bathroom,” Damon rambles off before Edward can say anything.

I raise my eyebrow at Edward.
He shrugs his shoulders. “I thought if the boys approved of it first, then I knew you would be interested.”

I smile at his well thought-out plan, but there must be something about this place that's going to give me trouble. “How much is this boy-approved house?”

He sighs, leaning back on the couch as the boys begin to clean up their mess. “It’s a little more than you approved of when we began discussing buying a house.”

There it is. “Mmhm, let’s get breakfast so we can go look at it.” I lean over and kiss him quickly and head to the kitchen where I have homemade cinnamon rolls ready to be put in the oven to bake.

We eat to our heart's content and then we got dressed, Edward and I both wearing one of our new shirts. We bundle up and have Garrett drive us about half an hour away from where we currently live.

He pulls us up to a gate and punches in some numbers and pulls into the driveway. I look out the window and holy shit, it's huge.

“Edward, I know this place is way over what we were discussing for price.” I turn to look at him. He doesn’t look phased at my words.

“Yes, it is, but it has everything we wanted, and the kids love it. Just look around before you tear it apart because of how much it costs,” Edward pleads with me, so I look to the boys who are wearing sad puppy dog looks.

“Fine, I will take a look and go by my gut feeling and not price.” I sigh, and we get out of the car.

The house is two stories with red brick and two white pillars in front of the door. I can see the several car garage that is attached to the house. It’s gorgeous. Edward grabs my hand as the boys lead us into the house.

I enter to what I’m thinking is the foyer; wood floors and warm colors greet me. We walk through the dining room, the kitchen that's all updated and modern, two offices, a laundry room, the master bedroom, and four other bedrooms. The basement is spectacular for a movie/game room. There is also an observatory that overlooks the amazing back yard that leads to a pond. There's so much nature and everything inside me says this is home. The boys are chattering away at what room they want and asking if Nana Esme can decorate.

I can see myself making dinners in the kitchen and tucking myself in with Edward in the master bedroom. I look out the kitchen window; the kitchen has its own door that leads to a deck with a fire pit and patio seating, so we can eat outside.

Edward comes up behind me, snaking his arms around me. “What do you think, baby?”

“Don’t ever tell me how much you spent to buy us this house.” I lean into his chest, picturing the family meals we’re going to have here.

He laughs. “Of course, baby, let’s get back to the apartment and I’ll call the realtor and let them know we want it.”

We get back to the apartment, and the boys go play with their new gadgets while Edward helps me in the kitchen to get things done for Christmas Dinner.

Alice and Jasper arrive first bringing wine, Emmett and Rose come bringing pie, Tanya and Irina bring salad and wine, and lastly Carlisle and Esme, bringing dessert and more wine. I think they want to get tipsy tonight. We already exchanged gifts yesterday, so we’re just having a good meal and spending some quality time together.

They boys tell everyone about our new house.

“When do you guys plan on moving?” Alice asks.

“We aren’t sure yet, we have to wait to officially have our names on the dotted line,” I answer, smiling at Alice who has a twinkle in her eye.

Tanya clears her throat. “We have our own announcement.”

Irina takes her hand and looks at her with adoration.

“We’re engaged!” Irina and Tanya say together.

I can’t help but sequel in excitement for them. I jump out of my seat, joining Rose, Alice, and Esme in hugging my best friends.

After us girls get our excitement out of the way, the guys congratulate them.

“Jasper, would you be my best man?” Irina asks, teary eyed.

Jasper widens his eyes and I can see his Adam’s apple bob for a moment before her answers, “Yes, it would be an honor.”

“And Bella, you have to be my maid of honor,” Tanya addresses me.

My heart swells so much. “Yes, of course, Tan.”

We begin talking wedding plans and dates. I can’t help but smile at my surroundings. I can’t believe how much has change for the better. I don’t need Charlie; I may forgive him, but I don’t need to have him in my life.

Edward kisses me gently on the temple, bringing me back into the conversation about having the boys in the wedding as well.