Episode Sixty-seven: Hi!

Back: Episode 66

Next: Episode 68

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Episode Sixty-seven: Hi!

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By the time seven o’clock rolled around, I had spoken to Alice, Rosalie, and Mrs. Lettie, their mother. I would save Esther for another day. She would want more information than I had anyway. 

Jasper called when he took a lunch break. Edward answered my phone as it laid on the bed in between us and put it on speaker. 

“Hi,” I said weakly. 

“My, what a day you’re having, dove,” he began softly. 

“See? That’s why you should have come with us. These are the fun things we get up to,” I joked, laying my head back on the pillow as I looked up at the ceiling. Edward took my hand and lightly squeezed it. 

“I should have. I wish I had. I wish I could be there for you. I’m a fool for not coming.”

"You are," I agreed lightly. "But it's okay. I understand. I'm sure there will be another life-altering moment you can hold me through. I have them in spades, it seems." 

Jasper sighed, “shit. My poor dove. Are you going to be alright?”

“Mm,” I hummed. “Dehydration is probably going to become an issue soon. I don’t think I’ve cried this much in a while.”

“I’ll get you some water.” Edward pressed a kiss to my forehead before hopping up to his feet. 

“Thanks,” I breathed as I watched him go to the kitchen, leaving me alone with Jasper on the phone. 

“So, Bella Black Swan, huh? Pretty cool name,” he said quietly. “Fits you.”

“Sounds like a good stripper name.”

He laughed then sighed, “no. No, Bella. It doesn’t. Sounds like the perfect ballerina name, actually.”

“It does, doesn’t it?” I smirked a little. “So, just curious, do you think I can go a week without something dramatic as fuck happening?”

“At this rate? No.”

"At least it is mostly a good thing. I have a brother and sisters. Cousins. They seem nice, too." I took a deep breath. "My father is dead, though. I really am an orphan. I always just figured he was her drug dealer or something, and he dropped my mom when she got knocked up. But he wasn't. How am I supposed to think about my grandmother or grandfather now? My grandmother, especially. She knew. She had to. She had to know his name, at least. They treated me like I was something shameful when they're the ones that should be ashamed." 

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say,” he answered. 

I glared up at the ceiling. My chest hurt a little bit. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be dumping this on you.”

Jasper let out another quiet little sigh. “Why not? I’d hope my girlfriend would be able to tell me anything, especially since I’ve very much dumped things onto you.”

I felt like crying again, but I swallowed it back. He didn't need to hear that before going back to work. "I miss you." 

“I miss you, too. Both of you.”

“I know,” I sighed.

Edward came back with a glass of ice water for me. I sat up slowly and took a big drink. My face felt sticky from my dried tears and snot. I was so tired. All I wanted was a nap.

Our boyfriend sat beside me. “I don’t suppose I can interest you in skipping out of that place and onto the first flight to Los Angeles?”

Jasper laughed without humor. "I wish I could. I was going to talk to my boss today about leaving, though. He's not been in. So, there's that. It's a start in the right direction," he answered. "I'm sorry that I'm not there, though." 

“Soon,” Edward sighed. Everyone was full of sighs. 

“Yeah. Not soon enough. But… Take care of her, hm? Kiss her for me, Tony.”

He ran his hand over my thigh to my knee. I laid my head on his shoulder and took a deep breath. “I’ll kiss her for both of us.”

It was Jasper’s turn to sigh again. “Alright. I need to go. Take care, dove.”

“Thank you for calling. It helps to hear your voice. Bye.”

“Bye,” he said quietly before hanging up. 

“So,” Edward began. “I’m going to get you some dinner and then we’ll get a shower. After, we’ll wait for your brother’s call together.”

Slowly I shook my head. “I’m not really hungry.”

“I know, but you should eat. It’ll help you feel a little better. Do you want me to order some Chinese?”

"Why don't you get that place we got the first day we met. It was delicious," I said hoarsely after taking another sip of water.  

He gave me a small hopeful grin. “Sounds perfect. What would you like?”

“Just pick whatever. You know I’ll eat anything and everything.”

“My laptop is in the office. I’ll be back in a second,” he told me before leaving me alone with my thoughts.

But only for a second. 

My phone rang with an unfamiliar number from Washington State. I had sent Jake an email with all of my contact information and a good rundown of my life story. The basics, at least. About my mother, grandmother, grandpa, Aiden, Alice, and Rosalie. And, Edward. I sent him links to my pictures and to my Facebook. 

I answered it and brought it up to my ear. We still had a couple of hours until it was nine o’clock. I wasn’t upset but rather excited, hopeful. I was eager to talk to him again. “Hello?”

“Hi! Hello! Bella?” A soft female voice said quickly. She sounded young. 

“Yeah.”

“Oh, my god! I’m Rebecca Black. Not like the singer of that stupid song. That Friday song,” she blurted out nervously, making me laugh. “I’m your sister.”

“Hi,” I giggled, tears already starting to form again. “I’m glad you’re not the singer of that song. That would be too weird.”

“Me, too!” She laughed. “So… Like… You’re really my sister?”

“I think so. I hope so. It’s probably not a terrible idea to do a DNA test to double check,” I replied. “If not, it’s a bunch of crazy coincidences.”

“This is nuts,” Rebecca replied in wonder. “Like, Daddy talked about you so much. I was starting to think you were a figment of his imagination.”

“I can’t believe he talked about me,” I said quietly. 

“Oh, gosh. All the time. He would… Mmm, how do I explain this? In our culture, it's really important that you have a special power totem or trinket that is supposed to protect you. It's especially important for young people, to help guide them to adulthood. Kind of a guardian angel. He made you one, and he'd- he'd basically pray for you, every night. He'd ask Q'wati to guide you… uh, he's a good spirit of transformation. It actually means The Transformer, but those terrible Michael Bay movies ruined that." 

I laughed, wiping tears away from my cheeks. Edward came back in with his laptop, his expression instantly worried. I shook my head. 

"I heard the new one wasn't bad, but I haven't seen any since like the second. They were terrible," I agreed. "I wonder what it looks like. The totem thing." 

"Oh, it's a little hand-carved wooden bird. Jake's got it. He was good at woodworking. Daddy made all of ours, too, but ours are wolves. We're descended from the wolves. Q'wati transformed us into humans. Legends say," she laughed lightly, "we're werewolves." 

“Werewolves? Legit? That’s super awesome,” I giggled as well. I pulled the phone away from my ear and finally put it on speaker. Edward sat on the bed beside me, his arm going around my shoulder. “So, Rebecca, tell me about yourself. What do you do?”

“Both Rachel and I are going to nursing school. We both want to be RNs. We both go to school and work at the same hospital here in Seattle.”

“I’ve never been to Seattle. I can’t wait to come and meet you, hopefully.”

“That would be great. Jake is over the moon right now. He’s probably called every person he knows today to tell them about you. I can’t believe you’re on YouTube. That’s so cool. And you’re dating that Australian guy in the videos with you?”

“Yeah, I am.”

“Good for you, sis. He’s crazy fucking hot.” Edward laughed loudly in embarrassment, covering his face with both of his hands. “Oh, shit! Can he hear me?”

"Yeah, sorry," I giggled softly. "I should have warned you. But, right? So hot." He poked my side, making me laugh again. "What? You are! What do you want from me?" 

He shook his head. “I’m ordering dinner.”

“Order like we’re both planning on eating our feelings tonight,” I joked. 

Edward mumbled, “I was already planning on it.”

“So, Jake said you’re getting married,” she said next, pulling my attention back to her. 

"Someday. Not soon, though." 

“Just a word of warning… Don’t let those morons at the rez tell you that you need to date within the tribe. They’re going to try to find you a nice boy, even if you’re with someone. Trust me, I know. And so does Rachel.”

I snorted. “They’d have to pry Eddie from my cold dead fingers first,” I answered lightly. “Anyway, how is our sister?”

“Grumpy. She’s in the middle of a twenty-four-hour shift that she can’t get out of. She won’t be off until tomorrow morning either.”

“Ew, poor thing. Sounds exhausting. I’d be a terrible nurse,” I admitted. “My brain is basically swiss cheese at full power. I’d forget someone’s medicine.”

“It happens all the time,” she replied. “She wants to talk to you after she gets some rest. Tomorrow evening probably.”

“Whenever she wants,” I replied. “I can’t believe I’ve got three siblings.”

“Poor Jake is outnumbered. He was kind of hoping you were going to turn out to be a boy magically. But, nope. Ha,” she chuckled evilly. “Just to let you know, we love to screw with him. It’s our jam. It’s fun. It’s easy. It’s why he blocked me on Facebook a couple of days ago, again.”

“Oh, so you’re like normal siblings?”

“Exactly!” We both laughed. I felt like I was smiling like an idiot. 

“So, there are four of us. Wow.” I rubbed my hand against the back of my neck. “Edward is one of five, but he’s the baby,” I said distractedly, just thinking out loud. “I guess we both have big families, then.”  

“Do you have any kids?”

"Not yet. But, we're going to try in a couple of years." I grinned at my boyfriend. He smiled back, adoringly.  

“Your kids are gonna be cute as hell.”

"Right?" I said in a giggle. "Honestly, you don't know how many times I've been told that this month. His family is ready for us to get married and be fruitful and multiply. We just came back from visiting his friends and family in Sydney a few days ago." 

“How was it?”

“It was… crazy," I confessed lightly. "I actually ended up in the hospital, but I'm fine now. My medication had a weird interaction. But his family is wonderful." 

“Most of them,” my boyfriend mumbled.

I ignored him, “Edward has four older sisters and seven nieces. I had so much fun with them. And his grandparents are all lovely kind people.”

“Seven! Oh, my god! You’re going to have to have boys!” My sister said with a cheerful laugh. We were both giddy.

“No! Girls!” He complained. “Little boys are morons. I know. I was one. I am one.”

“Yes, I know your opinion already, sir. You get what you get,” I told him, smiling at his silly attitude. “Or, we’ll adopt.”

“I cannot wait to be an aunt!” She said, making me smile. “It’s going to be so much fun!”

“Being an aunt is the best.”

"Well... Bella, I need to get to class. Um, so can I text you, maybe?" She asked, almost nervously.  

“Yes! Please. I’d love that! Tell Rachel she can too if she wants to,” I said quickly. “I’m probably going to have a whole list of questions once my brain defogs.”

Rebecca laughed, “I can imagine! We’ll have questions too, I’m sure.”  

“We should write them all down then we’ll have to sit down to a nice long dinner and talk one day very soon. With probably lots of wine. And tissues.”

“Lots and lots and lots of wine,” she agreed in a giggle. “Alright. Goodnight, sis.”

“Goodnight,” I sniffled, wiping away stray tears. The silence hung in the air after the call ended. I looked at the ceiling, hoping I wouldn’t cry again. My boyfriend quickly realized I needed a distraction. 

“Dinner will be here in about an hour,” Edward informed me, taking my phone from my grip and putting it on the charger beside the bed. “Let’s take a shower and then we’ll go outside and have a nice smoke until the food gets here.”

He was incredibly gentle with me, washing my hair and scrubbing my back. When I was dried off, he brought me his hoodie, fresh from the dryer. I couldn't help but smile when I put it on, putting on a pair of shorts underneath and comfortable thick white socks.  

I sat outside with a joint while he got us each a glass of white wine. The breeze was wonderful, the air refreshing. My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out to see a text from an unknown number.  

The message read, “Hi, sister! This is Rachel!” She sent me a gif of Stitch from the movie Lilo and Stitch waving hi. 

I liked my siblings so much already. I started crying again. I was overly emotional and tired. It also didn't help that I was cramping. My period was going to be annoyingly early, my medicine screwing it up. I needed to set up an appointment for my IUD so that I wouldn't have to deal with it again for a while. It was best to have them put in during your period anyway.  

When Edward came back, he handed me a glass of wine and a box of tissues.  I laughed, pulling one out and rubbing my eyes. I showed him the screen. "Rachel." 

“Aw, that’s a fun movie. I like that one.” He grinned, putting his arm around me. 

“Me too. It’s actually kind of special to me,” I admitted softly. 

“Oh? Why?”

I wondered if he really wanted to know this information. But, I also didn’t want to hide anything about myself. 

"Well, um… Aiden and I went to see it on our fourth date at some cheap old theater. And then he took me to meet his family for the first time. Later that night, he told me he loved me for the first time." 

His eyes got big. “After four dates?!”

“Yes,” I laughed. 

“Goddamnit. I could have told you sooner,” he sighed in mild annoyance. “Do you know how hard it was to keep that in?”

“I would have freaked out if you did. Seriously. You did it perfectly. Thank you for waiting until I was ready and making it wonderfully romantic. He had his hand up my shirt when he said it.”

“Oh, that makes more sense,” Edward muttered. “It was hard for me to not shout it at you the first time I got into your bra too.” He was joking. I think, mostly. 

"It wasn't his first time in it," I giggled. "He got in it a little on the first date and got it completely off the second date. It wasn't even supposed to be that kind of thing. He helped me with something, and I offered to take him to the movies and dinner to say thank you. Our first date was wildly unexpected to me, and I was all about dating back then." 

“How so?” He questioned thoughtfully, taking a hit from the joint before passing it back to me. “How do you mean it was unexpected?”

"Just… Everything about it. We met in front of the movies, and he had already bought my ticket, despite why we were there in the first place. And he just hugged me. It was very sweet. He was so funny and charming, which I hadn't expected from someone I viewed as pretty much an old man. He made some stupid joke that I don't even remember, but it made me laugh and turn red, and he told me I was beautiful when I blushed. Then he kissed me. Of course, that led to making out in the actual movie. And in his car in the parking lot. When we left, Aiden forgot to put his lights on, and he got pulled over." I laughed at the memory. "Idiot mouthed off to the cop and got frisked, too."  

“And you decided to go on a second date with him?” He chuckled in return.

"Okay, well… In my defense," I giggled again, taking a hit from the lit joint before passing it back to him, "we literally fogged up the windows in his car. Like, I didn't know you could actually do that. When I got back from the date, I literally jumped on top of a sleeping Alice and shouted at her that we 'steamed up the windows like in Titanic!' She was so confused. 'But you don't even like that movie,'" I laughed again. “And the thing is… I didn’t dress up. At all. I didn’t think it was a date. I was just thanking the smart guy at the coffee shop that helped me with my homework. I wore baggy jeans, a men’s blue button down that I stole from an ex years before. I didn’t do my hair or wear makeup. But he made me feel beautiful.” 

“Lucky man,” he said quietly. I glanced over at him. 

"What are you thinking?" I asked softly. The entire day had been about me, and I wanted that to change for at least a moment. 

“Sometimes I think about what it would be like if I met you back then, being the man I am now.”

"Would you have dated an eighteen-year-old?" I questioned. Edward scrunched up his nose a little bit in response. "I thought not." He was too mature to want to spend his time with someone so young. After being around his sisters, I could see why he might prefer older women. It was what he was used to.  

"Only you. I had a dream once that I helped you become a megastar when I met you right after you came to New York. I think about that dream a lot." 

“Did it start off with a little fun on the casting couch?” I joked. He opened his mouth then closed it, looking away as he took a hit. I laughed at his reaction. “Oh, Mr. Cullen, I’ll do anything to get this part.”

Edward guffawed, passing me the smoke before he cleared his throat. “That’s what I was thinking about after I woke up.”

I leaned over and kissed him, pressing my lips to his ear. “Anytime you want to play director and rising star...” I smoothed my hand over the inside of his thigh. 

“Mm, maybe when you’re feeling up to it.” He pulled me closer, kissing my neck lightly. “We can take turns being the director,” he joked in return. I giggled softly. 

I took the joint back from him, relaxing in his arms. Finally, I texted my other sister back while I smoked and we waited for our dinner to arrive. He ordered enough food for five people. I didn't mind. We could have leftovers for a couple of days if we didn't end up eating it all at once.  

My phone rang right at nine o'clock. It had been a day of nothing but telephone calls. I usually loathed talking on the phone, but this was totally different. Once again I put it on speaker so Edward could hear it, too. It would be easier than explaining to him all the things we were talking about.  

"Hey, Bella!" Jake said, cheerfully. "How are you doing?" 

"Great. Really great. I've talked to Rebecca, and I've been chatting back and forth with Rachel." 

“Yeah! They told me! That’s awesome! They’re so excited. We can’t wait to meet you.”

“Me either! We need to figure out when would be a good time for me to visit.”

“I’m off every weekend,” he told me quickly. 

"Well…" Edward began, getting my attention. "I can cancel the shoot we have on Saturday. We're off Sunday. We can fly up to there Friday evening after I record," he offered. "Of course, you can stay as long as you like, but I'll have to come back on Sunday evening because I have a meeting on Monday morning with Disney." I nodded my head, unable to speak. 

"Disney. Holy shit. Awesome," Jake responded. "Really, though? You can make it up this weekend?"  

“Absolutely!” He ran his fingers over my jaw, smiling at me warmly. “I’ll arrange everything.”

“Thank you,” I breathed. He nodded, winking at me. 

It was a Tuesday. I couldn’t imagine the fact that in a few days I was going to meet my family. And my wonderful and very busy love was going to arrange it all for me. Happily so. I leaned over quickly and captured his lips in a firm kiss. 

"Would that work for you?" Edward asked to make sure. "I realize it's short notice." 

“Yes! Please. You are welcome to visit any time!. This is your home, too,” Jake replied quickly. 

“Once I have everything worked out, I’ll send the details your email.”

"Great! Oh, my god! I'm going to meet my sister!" He said happily. "I have so much that I want to show you." 

“I can’t wait,” I promised. 

We spoke for another two solid hours until finally, he had to go to bed since he had work in the morning. It was so easy to talk to him once all our nervous energy relaxed. He was funny and loud. And he cursed to a hilarious degree.  

“Alright… look, Bella… I know- I know that we’ve never met, but you’re my family. You’re my fucking sister. And I want you to know that I love you and I always have. We all do.”

"I didn't know you existed until about twelve hours ago, but I'm pretty sure I love y'all, too," I said with a soft little laugh, trying to hide my tears that were forming again. I couldn't make them stop. I wasn’t even sure where they were coming from anymore. How did I have enough liquid in my tiny body? I had cried my weight in tears that day.  

“Dad must be so happy now.”

“Jake… was he- Was he a good dad?”

“The best. He came to every basketball game, every school thing. He would help us every day with our homework. Sneak us ice cream when we were in trouble with our mom. Braid the girls’ hair. I miss him. I miss him so much, Bella. I hate that he couldn’t make it to see you. Two years. He missed you by two years.”

“What kind of cancer was it?”

“Colon.”

“Damn. I wish… I wish I could have known him. He sounds amazing.”

"He was. He really was. I'm sorry, I should go. It's so hard to stop talking, though." 

“I understand.” I swallowed. “Honestly, I need to go get some rest, too. I’m still jet-lagged as hell and today has been absolutely exhausting for doing nothing but talking.”

“Right? Who knew it could take that much out of you. I literally hate speaking on the phone. I mean, this is great, but normally.”

“Same. Texting is a godsend.”

“Agreed.”

“Well, text me tomorrow, Okay... brother?”

I could almost see his smile through the smile. “Yeah. Alright. Goodnight, sis.”

Edward and I looked at each other long minute once he hung up. “This has literally been one of the longest days of my life.”

“The days you were in the hospital were the longest of mine. This… This I can handle. I know you’re going to be alright and probably pretty happy in a couple of days.”

"I'm happy right now," I smiled reassuringly. "My tear ducts are just broken, and my face is swollen. And Christ, I didn't know I could produce this much mucus. I've got to look super sexy right now." 

“A little gooey but still the most beautiful woman in the world,” Edward leaned in and kissed my forehead. “Tomorrow we should run out and get some more tissues, though.”

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