The Perfect Wife - Chapter 15

Chapter 15

We drove back to Forks after the bookstore. I couldn’t stop smiling. I was so excited about my books. It was the best part of my entire day. Edward was quiet. He seemed distracted as we were leaving the bookstore like he was deep in thought. He would occasionally glance over to me and stroke my thigh.

I realized we were driving out of town instead of back to Charlie’s house. I turned to him.

“Edward,” I asked, “aren’t you taking me home?”

He looked at me and smiled, “Yes, my home.”

“Oh,” I replied.

I paid attention to the drive now so I’d know where I was. He turned off the main road onto a private drive with a massive gated entrance. He punched a button on the remote clipped to his visor waiting for the gate to open. As we drove through I realized I still couldn’t see a house anywhere. We drove another 10 minutes winding through the dense trees and then it opened up to showcase a massive 3-story home. It looked like a plantation home. Huge white columns extended from the roofline to the brick front porch with a central entrance. It was beautiful.

We stopped in front of the home and Edward helped me out of the car. I stood for a moment taking in my surroundings. There was a brick walkway that curved from the drive to front porch, bordered by flowerbeds along the way. I noticed the drive split off past the house to another drive that disappeared in the distance. I could see the peaks of two other homes behind and to the right of the home.

Edward guided me up the path to the door, opening it and ushering me through. I stood in a foyer that looked bigger than Charlie’s house. There was a central staircase that divided the floor. The home was filled with antiques. I loved it.

It reminded me of my home in Phoenix. Renee and I loved to go ‘junkin’, as we liked to call it, several times a year. Of course, we never had anything of the quality I was seeing here, but Renee was very creative with what she found.

I heard footsteps running from the back of the home toward us. A beautiful woman was wiping her hands on a towel looking a little frantic. She slowed to a stop in front of us and put her hand to her chest to catch her breath. She was dressed in jeans, a snug burgundy sweater and boots. I could see the smudges on her knees where she had brushed off dirt.

“Oh Edward, you scared me. I thought you were your father coming home early,” she explained.

“I was just coming in from the garden to start dinner.”

She kissed him on the cheek as he leaned down to hug her. She was a few inches taller than me, but still shorter than Edward. I could tell she was Edward’s mother from her looks and hair color. She turned to look at me. I smiled in greeting to her.

“It’s alright, Esme,” he grinned to her. “It’s just us. You have plenty of time.”

He turned to introduce me, smiling. “Esme, this is Isabella. She’s the gift I picked out.”

I blushed in embarrassment at how he introduced me to his mother. He couldn’t call me a friend, girlfriend or fiancé. No, I was his ‘gift wrapped pen’ that he picked out from the store. It was humiliating.

Her gaze appraised me. She seemed to be able to tell what I was feeling. I thought I saw a brief moment of sadness cross her face before disappearing.

“Welcome to our family, Isabella,” she said. She hugged me and then whispered very softly before kissing my cheek, “It will be ok.”

I could hear the compassion in her voice. She understood my embarrassment. Edward saw my blush and stroked my cheek watching our interaction.

“Thank you, Mrs. Cullen,” I replied. “Please call me Bella.”

Her smile got a little bigger. “And please call me, Esme or mom. After all you’re going to be my daughter.”

She stepped back and turned to Edward. “She’s beautiful, Edward. I’m sure you will be very happy.”

“Yes, I know I will,” he stated. “I’m going to take Bella upstairs to our room so she can get settled. I know you’re busy right now so I’ll bring her down to visit with you later.” As he ushered me toward the stairs he turned back to her, “Were Emmett and Jasper coming over tonight?”

“No, they weren’t planning on it.”

Oh, well I’ll call them then. You don’t mind having them over tonight do you?” he asked. “I’ll call and have them send Rosalie and Alice over to help you with dinner.”

“Of course. I love having all my children for dinner,” she replied. “Have you spoken to your father?”

“We saw him this morning at the hospital. He knows I was bringing Bella home today so I’m sure he figures everyone would be here to greet her.”

With that we headed up the stairs. I saw her look at her watch and frown before sighing and going back down the hall. I glanced at my watch and realized it was 4:17. I knew what the frown was for. She had obviously only planned on 3 for dinner. Now, she had 8 for dinner and if they kept the same schedule as Charlie, she had an hour to pull it off.

Edward took me to the top floor and stopped in front of the last door before opening it and waiting for me to enter. I walked in and surveyed the room. I guess this was my new home. We had walked into a sitting room with a sofa and 2 wingback chairs and a desk. There was a wide doorway that showed the bedroom beyond. Edward went through setting my bags on the black iron king-sized bed. Both rooms were done in red and gold.

I saw Edward opening an armoire against the wall. I could see a large CD collection and stereo system. He turned on classical music to play softly before turning back to me.

“Bella, why don’t you put your clothes in the closet?” he said pointing to the door in the room.

“The bathroom is the door next to the closet if you need. I’m going to call my brothers for dinner.”

He walked back to the sitting room pulling out his phone. I started putting away the clothes he bought and could hear his voice on the phone.

“Hey Emmett.” …“Hang on a minute. I’m going to conference Jasper in so I can talk to you both at once.” … “I wanted both of you to come to dinner tonight and meet Bella.” … “Yes, I did pick out my gift finally, Emmett.” He was laughing. “I know I took forever. So who won the bet?” … “Really? I would have thought for sure Emmett would win.” … “Well, I’m still not used to Alice’s uncanny ability to predict things yet. No offense, Jasper.” … “Esme is working on dinner now for everyone. Could you send Rosalie and Alice to help her? I didn’t give her much time to work and for tonight, at least, I wanted to keep Bella to myself before dinner.” … “No Emmett. Remember, she’s 17. Unlike you or Jasper, I am going to have to wait,” he sounded irritated. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. There’s been a change in plans and I’m going to complete her training myself.” … “Yes, Jasper. I’ve already had a problem with both Charlie and James. We’ll discuss it tonight after dinner and plan what to do about it.” … “I know Jasper. Thanks for the warning.
That’s how I caught them before it could escalate.” … “Alright, I’ll see you both in an hour for dinner. Thanks for sending Rosalie and Alice to help tonight. Bella will return the favor anytime you need.”

I heard him snap his phone closed and come back in the room. I was just putting away the last of the lingerie. His gaze traveled over me. He frowned when he saw my bare feet. I’d slipped my shoes off while I was putting everything away. My feet hurt so badly for being in heels all day.

“I’m sorry,” I said as I went to put my shoes back on. “My feet were hurting.”

He came up and stopped me taking the shoe out of my hand.

“I love how your legs look in the heels Bella. You’ll need to get used to them. However, I can make a concession to you. When we’re in our room you can take them off.” He smiled at me.

“Thank you,” I breathed in relief. I was so glad I hadn’t made him angry again.

He guided me back to the sofa in the sitting room. He lay back extending one leg on the sofa and the other foot on the ground. He pulled me down to lie on top of him. I rested my arms on his chest holding me up to look in his eyes. I wasn’t sure what he wanted as he lay there looking up at me stroking my hair with one hand while his other circled my waist.

“Bella, we need to discuss the changes that are going to be taking place for you in the coming weeks, but I think we’ll save that for after dinner.” His eyes were getting dark as his voice dropped. “Right now I need you.”

With that he pulled my head down to meet his and attacked my lips. His were hungry. He thrust his tongue through my lips and I opened for him to continue his assault. As soon as he felt my arms slip around his neck he released my head to slide both of his hands down my back and over my ass. Due to how short my dress was it had ridden up to expose part of my ass to his hands.

He started massaging my cheeks with his hands while he continued to kiss me. I was kissing him back with as much passion as I knew how. He suddenly pulled away and sat up pushing me up with him. He stood and picked me up carrying me to the bed.

“This will be a lot more comfortable in here,” he whispered. He laid me on the bed then lay on top of me spreading my legs so he lay between them. He starting kissing me again, attacking my mouth, holding my head with his hands. I could feel his erection pressing into me and I got scared. I made the mistake of trying to pull away.

I tried to turn my head to break our kiss and push against his shoulders. He growled through his kiss and grabbed my hands, pulling them over my head to secure in one hand. He used his other hand to hold my chin preventing me from moving. His kisses were becoming rougher and more impassioned. I could feel the tears sliding out of the corners of my eyes. I didn’t know what he was going to do.

He lifted his face to glare into my eyes. “I told you never pull away from me Isabella. Don’t make me punish you.”

“I’m sorry,” my lips trembled when I spoke. “I don’t know how to be with you or what you expect. Please don’t punish me. I promise to learn Edward. Please teach me what you want me to do. I want to make you happy.”

I was begging. I just wished he’d understand that no one has ever really explained to me anything about his expectations. I still didn’t fully understand what my role was other than eventually I would be forced to marry him. I didn’t know what was going to happen between now and then or how my adoption was supposed to play a part.

I knew a little from what Charlie had told me and I could guess part of it from what he and James had forced me to do. I just felt that if someone would ‘put the writing on the wall’ so to speak I wouldn’t make so many mistakes.

He rested his forehead against mine taking deep breaths. He was still pinning me down. I felt the tension slowly leave him and he raised his head back up to look at me again. His eyes were still dark, but the anger was fading in them.

“I understand Bella. I have to remember that you’re not fully trained yet. You’ve only been with Charlie and James a few weeks and didn’t get very far in your training.”

He leaned in and kissed me gently before raising back up again. “I need you Bella. I ache for you.” He pressed his erection back into me showing me how much he wanted me. “It was a bad idea to start this now. There isn’t enough time like I wanted before dinner,” he sighed. “I guess I do need to explain to you now. We’ll come back to this after dinner when we have more time.”
His eyes held promise of the last statement.