Bella
When I woke up the next morning, I was alone. Edward had left a note to tell me he was cooking breakfast and to come join him when I felt ready to get up. I stretched and waddled into the bathroom. I spent time washing my face, and brushing my teeth and hair. I waddled my way back into the bedroom and got dressed.
I was ready for this busy day to start. I wanted Edward to enjoy his first doctor's visit with me and then shopping with Alice and Esme sounded like fun. I definitely needed a few more things to wear; I was quickly growing out of everything I had. I made a mental list of what I wanted to buy today.
I found Edward in the kitchen making French toast, my favorite. He came over kissed my forehead and handed me a plate full of French toast and bacon. I sat beside Emmett at the table and poured my syrup. I got up and poured a glass of orange juice, I could see out of the corner of my eye that Emmett had swiped a piece of French toast from my plate. As I walked back to the table, I elbowed him and began eating. Edward brought me another piece when he came to sit beside me so he could eat his breakfast as well. There beside his plate was his ever present journal. He seemed to never be without it now days. I guess the baby has stimulated his creativity.
"Bella I was thinking that I would have Esme and Alice meet us at the doctor's office so I can come home after our appointment, and you can go shopping with them. Is that okay?" Edward offered.
I nodded. "What are you going to be doing while I'm out shopping?" I asked not sure if he would tell me.
He shrugged and glanced over at Emmett. "Just a few things to take care of." Emmett smirked. "Edward what are you up to?" I narrowed my eyes and dropped my hand onto my hip. The international sign of 'spill it or you will be in big trouble mister'.
"Bella, please just give me a little time and I can show and tell you everything, I promise love." He slid is arms around me and held me against his chest. His hand immediately dropped to my stomach. How could I say no to him when he treated me so well.
"Okay, mister, I'll go, and have fun. But this is definitely going to cost you some big money. You will regret that you asked me to go shopping by myself." I smiled smugly, thinking I had hit him where it hurt.
"Glad you mentioned that, I have this for you." He reached into his back pocket and took out his wallet. He opened it and removed a credit card and handed it to me.
I pushed it back at him. "Edward I have my own money, I don't need this. I was just joking."
"Bella, I know you have your own money. I just want to buy things for our baby. I'm still new to this and I want to spoil her rotten. I mean it, buy whatever you want. I have told Esme and Alice the same thing, so they are going to make sure you get whatever you and the baby need."
I stood stunned, mouth open, eyes wide. He just called our baby 'her', I couldn't believe it.
"Edward, why did you just call our baby 'her'?"
"Well, I figured that if you trusted Alice's prediction enough to buy pink for the nursery, we could trust it enough to start calling our baby 'her' instead of 'it'. I never liked 'it'. Have you thought of a name for her?"
"Yes, I have. What about you?" I wanted to hear what his thoughts were.
"Well, I like Elizabeth, that was my mom's name. Or Makenna was my grandmother's name; I actually like that one the best. But I'm open to whatever you have." He rubbed his hands up and down my arms, a gesture he did when he felt like he was saying something I didn't like, it was like he was trying to soothe the bad words.
"Edward, I love Makenna. Would you be okay with not naming her after your mom though? You told me once that you wanted to name your daughter after her." I wanted him to pick which one he wanted, I wanted him to be happy with his choice.
"Bella, we'll just have to have another girl to name Elizabeth, don't worry. Now what about her middle name? Do you want to name her after your mom?"
I shook my head; I had a better name in mind.
"Edward, I don't want her named for Renee. But I do want to use Renee's favorite name. She used to tell me when I was little that she wanted another daughter and if she had another one she would have named her Grace. I want to use Grace for her middle name." I look at him pleading him with my eyes.
"Bella, I love it! Makenna Grace, it is perfect for our daughter." He picked me up and swung me around in a circle.
Esme, Alice and Rosalie all three entered the kitchen together.
"Get a room, please, we don't want a single spot in this kitchen sexed up at all!" Rosalie shouted at us. Alice made a gagging sound. Esme just looked at us with sappy, love filled eyes.
"We have just named our daughter, and Alice you had better not be wrong. We decided that we will name her Makenna Grace Cullen." I clapped my hands and did a small happy dance in the kitchen.
"Uh, actually Bella, my name is officially Masen-Cullen. So she will be Makenna Grace Masen-Cullen. And you will be Masen-Cullen as well, that is when we get married."
"Edward, I never knew that. Why didn't you ever tell me?" I walked back to his side and looked up at him.
"Well, I wanted to change my name when Esme and Carlisle adopted me, but I couldn't turn my back on my real parents and completely forget that I belonged to them. Carlisle suggested the hyphenated name. I only went by Cullen at school to keep down the questions. I really had to answer enough about my situation without going into every detail for all those kids who really didn't give a damn about what any of us Cullens had been through. So, I guess it never came up, sorry. I didn't mean to hide it from you." He just shrugged like he really had no idea about why.
I smiled at him. "Edward, I'm not angry. I'm touched that you would make such a sweet gesture towards both sets of your parents. I would love to be Bella Masen-Cullen. So, now let's get this show on the road so we're not late." I patted his butt and pushed him towards the stairs. He needed to get dressed so we could go.
"Hey Esme and Alice could you meet us at the doctor's office so you can pick up Bella and take her shopping from there?" Edward asked them.
"Sure, what time?" Alice asked.
"Can we call you? We aren't sure how long this will take."
"Sure Esme and I will be around the corner from there anyway so we can be there fairly quick. " Alice inserted.
Edward kissed my forehead, "Do you need anything from upstairs while I'm up there?"
"Yes, please bring my purse back down, and I'll clean up while you're getting dressed." I kissed him on his cheek, I couldn't reach his forehead. He smiled.
"Rosalie, why aren't you going with us shopping?" I questioned, hoping it sounded casual and not like I was fishing for answers, which I was.
"Well Bella, someone has to stay and make sure that the two stooges left here don't get into any trouble. Don't you think that is a smart thing to do?" Rosalie was tough on the outside, but a soft as marshmallow on the inside. I knew that she was in on whatever plot Edward had going, and that she was enjoying her role in this deception. I guess I had no choice but to go along with it and enjoy my role as well. It was easy to do when I knew the fun and happiness it gave all members of this family.
Edward and I arrived at Dr. Jones's office with plenty of time to spare. He was definitely not going to be allowed to drive like a maniac when Makenna was born.
I filled out all of the paperwork, answered all of the nurses questions, peed in a cup and had my finger pricked. Finally Dr. Jones came in to the room, she hugged Edward and I. She opened my chart and scanned through a few pages.
"Bella looks like everything was good according to your medical records. Let's hear the heartbeat and measure you okay?"
Edward's eyes lit up, I loved seeing his excitement.
Dr. Jones felt around on my stomach and then placed the small device down at the bottom. After a small adjustment, we could hear our daughter's heartbeat, loud, strong and fast.
"Edward, do you hear your baby?" Dr. Jones asked him, her smile showed her joy at being able to share this with him for the first time.
"Wow, she sounds amazing. I have felt her kick so often; she seems to be active when Bella is getting ready for bed. I talk to her when we lay down at night. She is already a daddy's girl, she kicks when she hears my voice." The awe in his voice audible, he was dumbstruck by our daughter. Dr. Jones obviously could read him as well, she smiled at me.
"Let's get a measurement and then we can call for an ultrasound tech to come in." She took her tape measure out and placed it at the top of my stomach and stretched it down to the bottom. She looked at the end, frowned, and walked over to the chart. "Bella, when is your due date?"
" February 18th, is everything okay?" I asked grabbing Edward's hand and squeezing it; he glanced down at me and tried to smile at me. I could read the panic in his eyes.
"Everything is fine, but you are measuring differently. Either you are going to have a large baby or your due date is off. Did you previous OB give you your due date by your last period or by the baby's measurements?" She asked in a soothing voice as she wrote in my chart.
"By my last period, is that way okay?" I was still scared; her voice helped but not enough. I glanced again at Edward and his eyes had returned to normal.
"We'll do some measurements during the ultrasound, and see if your due date still matches, that's all. I promise, everything is good; I would tell you if I felt like there was a problem. I believe in honesty with my patients. Just be prepared for a due date that is sooner than February 18th, okay. Do you both have any questions?"
I looked at Edward, he shook his head no, and I followed his lead.
She walked to the door and said, "I will pop in during your ultrasound and see what we find, we'll talk about next visit then. I'll see you both in a few minutes." And she left.
I pulled out my phone and called Carlisle.
My hand started to shake while I was waiting for Carlisle to answer.
"Dr. Cullen speaking."
"Carlisle it's Bella. I have a question…" I broke into tears, and Edward took the phone. He sat down beside me on the bed and put his arm around me.
"Carlisle, they are saying that Bella is measuring differently than her due date. They want to do some measurements during the ultrasound; Dr. Jones has assured us that things are fine. This could just mean that Bella is farther along than we thought, but it is a big shock and Bella is worried. I think she needs to hear from you what's going on. Okay?"
Edward handed me the phone.
"Hello." My voice sounded far away and hoarse.
"Bella, Edward told me what's going on, I'm sure everything is fine. The worst that could happen is we find out you are due much sooner than we thought. It'll be fine. I'm walking over to Dr. Jones' office now, Esme is with me, we were eating some lunch. We'll both be there in about three minutes, okay?"
"Thanks, I'm sorry, it was so unexpected, you know pregnancy hormones. One minute you're fine and the next you're crying." I chocked back a small laugh.
"Bella, it's okay to be scared. You've had a rocky year, but everything is fine. If it was not Dr. Jones would have called me and asked me to be there when she delivered the bad news. And she hasn't called me so just hang on and we'll be right there."
"Okay."
Carlisle walked into the room a few seconds after he hung up with me. Edward was in the corner on the left side of the bed holding my left hand and rubbing my hair back off of my face. Carlisle walked in; he immediately came over to hold my right hand. Esme moved right in beside Carlisle and laid her hand on my leg. She patted and rubbed it soothingly just like Renee used to do for me. I was so thankful for both of them being there with us. We couldn't do this alone, their support was unwavering for us. I would always be grateful for them in my life.
"Hey, you okay?" He asked.
I nodded, I was afraid to say anything. I was afraid that would cause my tears to start again.
The ultrasound tech knocked on the door and walked in pulling his equipment.
"Are you Bella Swan?" He asked as he was looking at the chart.
"Yes." I replied.
"I'm George, your ultrasound tech, are you ready to get started?" When I nodded at him, he began to turn on his equipment. "Let's see us a baby then, have you had an ultrasound before?"
"Yes, I have a few weeks ago when I had a car accident."
"Okay so you know what to expect?" He turned back to the machine as I nodded at him. After he entered a little info he asked again, "Who exactly are the members of your fan club?"
I smiled, that is exactly what they were for me. "This is Edward Cullen, my boyfriend, this is Dr. Carlisle Cullen and his wife Esme, Edward's parents" I smiled at Esme and she squeezed my leg again.
"Dr. Cullen of course, I was pulling some night shifts at the hospital until they found more radiology help, we have worked together before. It's good to see you."
"Thank you George, same to you." Carlisle responded to him, shaking his hand.
Esme and Carlisle both moved to the left side of the bed to make room for the George and his equipment. Carlisle was at the head of the bed and Esme was closer to the foot. Edward squeezed my hand and I glanced up at him. Esme slid a stool over to him and he sat down on it. This made us at the same height and we could get closer together.
George slid my shirt up over my stomach, and pulled the sheet to the correct position and tucked it into the waist of my pants. "We don't want to get you all gummy from the gel, now this is the cold part so brace yourself. " And he squirted a large amount of gel onto my stomach, he hit a few buttons and the screen came on. He typed in my name and hit another button and there she was… our daughter, center of the screen.
"There's your beautiful baby, can you all see it?" George asked
We all nodded no one able to speak.
"And here is the heart beating; can you see the chambers moving?" George looked at us; we were all staring at the screen.
"Let's do some measurements here on our little sweet pea, we measure the head." He clicked a few buttons.
"We need to measure the leg and torso as well." He paused a few times on different spots and clicked some buttons.
"Oh look there is sweet pea's face, can you see it? It looks like it's trying to smile at us, oh look it's a thumb sucker, how cute. I think it looks like you Bella." He teased.
"I sucked my thumb when I went to sleep for a few years." Edward murmured into my ear.
I turned to face him and touched his face. He had small tears in his eyes, I forgot this was the first time he was seeing it.
"Can we tell what the sex is, I didn't want to know last time, but now we have decided that we do." I looked at Edward to make sure he was in agreement with me, and he nodded at me.
"Well I can try, let's hope the baby is not stubborn. Let's see, well look at that, not stubborn at all. Quite the opposite, she's a little floozy, look at her legs draped open. Shame on her." George chided her.
Edward's tears began to fall when he heard that it was a girl. Esme placed her hand on my leg and squeezed. Carlisle clapped Edward on the back and turned to hug him. When Carlisle let him go, he sat back down beside me and kissed my temple. He whispered into my ear so only I would hear him.
"Thank you Bella for giving me my daughter, I love her and I love you."
Now I was crying.
Dr. Jones stepped into the room at that moment and walked over to the ultrasound machine. George clicked a few buttons and all of the images he took popped up on the screen. She looked at each image a few seconds and began writing in my chart. She turned to us and smiled. She froze when she saw my face with tears streaming down.
"Bella, are you okay. I told you everything is fine, I just need to confirm the dates and size of the baby that's all. Don't get yourself worked up, I promise it's fine." She patted my leg.
"I know, I'm crying because we just found out that it's a girl, like we thought. Edward and I found out together, that's all." I smiled sheepishly at her.
"Oh, well congratulations. Edward, is that what you were hoping for?" She asked him.
He looked at me and back up at her, "I wanted whatever we were having. But a girl that looks like Bella suits me just fine." His face lit up with his joy.
"Makenna Grace Masen-Cullen is her name." He whispered, but Dr. Jones heard and turned to look at us.
"I love that, it's beautiful. Well, Bella, my dear your pretty baby girl is normal size and she should be fine for vaginal delivery. I was a little worried when I saw how small your frame was, but you should be fine since she is not overly large. However… you are a little further along that we thought. I estimate your due date based on Makenna's size to be somewhere around February 5th So you will need to start seeing me weekly soon."
"Wow, that bumps up our timeline, Alice better be ready by then." I turned to look at Esme and she just nodded. She grabbed her blackberry and started tapping away on it, I'm sure she was letting Alice know to start changing order dates and whatever else she needed to change to make it happen.
"Oh my gosh Edward, that is soon, too soon. Nothing will be ready in time." I could feel my heart start to race and panic set in.
"Of course it will Bella, you're shopping today just make sure you buy everything you need this trip so we have it all if we have an early appearance. No need to worry, we'll be fine." He rubbed small circles on the back of my hand with his thumb, and I felt the worry melt away.
"Okay, we're all finished, go shop and get all your stuff. But please make sure to drink plenty of water and rest often. I'll see you in one week, nice to see you all again." She turned and left the room. We all let out a large breath and looked from person to person each of us planning what things we now needed to do sooner than we had planned. We stopped at the desk and made another appointment in one week. George had left us about 10 ultrasound pictures and Edward grabbed them up to stare at them. His face turned up into a large grin.
Edward walked me to Esme's car and kissed me goodbye.
"Bella get everything you need today, please. I want you to be able to rest for the rest of this pregnancy and not have to be shopping every other day. Promise me?" He pleaded.
"I will, I'm scared she is going to get here and I'll have nothing for her, so believe me I'll get tons of stuff today. That way I know I'll have what I need. Does Alice know exactly what I need and what I don't need?" I raised an eyebrow at him and he laughed, knowing I knew he was up to something.
"Yes, Alice will be able to keep you from buying something you already have. Beside you are in Esme's Mercedes you can't get many big items. Buy whatever you want, if we have it or don't need it we'll ship it back. Have fun, and don't forget, drink plenty of water." He said as he opened the back door for me. I climbed in and buckled my seat belt. He leaned in, kissed me once again and closed the door. When Alice arrived, he stopped her outside the car to talk with her in hushed whispers. I couldn't hear anything.
We stopped for lunch at a small Italian place that Esme loves. They recognized her and rushed her to a wonderful booth; we could see the cooks in the kitchen over the raised counter that separated it from the dining area. They moved with such grace and elegance. I propped my feet up and drank from a large glass of water with lemon. When our lunch came I devoured all of my lasagna and part of Esme's mushroom ravioli. Both were amazing, the chef came out and spoke with Esme. His Italian accent was dreamy, and Esme responded without hesitancy. They conversed for a few minutes and then Esme introduced Alice and I. He rubbed my stomach and informed me I was having a girl and we all giggled. Esme told him we had just found that out for certain today. He packed us three deserts and told us to enjoy them after our shopping; and with that we got back in the car to head off to the baby stores to get all of Makenna's stuff.
We made our way into the large baby superstore first. We started at one corner and worked our way around all of the aisles, filling up several shopping carts by the time we were done. Alice informed me that I didn't need any furniture for the room, but she did help me pick out a car seat, high chair, swing, pack n' play, bouncy seat, sheets, blankets, waterproof pads, snugglies, bath tub, and too many toys and clothes to mention. We then went in search of lotions, soaps, diapers, wipes and all the baby care items that Alice had checked off of her list that we needed. Esme went in search of several picture frames for Edward's ultrasound pictures from today. We checked out and I paid with Edward's credit card.
"Thank you Mrs. Cullen, I hope you enjoy all of your baby stuff." The sales clerk responded as she handed me back my credit card and receipt.
I giggled and blushed at her 'Mrs. Cullen' reference.
Esme put her arm around me as we walked back to the car. "Sounded good didn't it?" She asked.
"Yeah, better than I thought it would sound."
Alice was off to the far side of the car talking on her cell phone, she flipped it closed and made a grand announcement. "Okay girls, time to get our pedicures now, and then we can eat our dessert, sound good?"
I nodded, anything that allowed me to sit down and prop my feet up was okay in my book.
Esme drove us over to the spa and we all were escorted back to the pedicure chairs. When my feet were in the warm soapy water, I pulled out my phone and called Edward.
"Hey baby, you must be reading my mind. What are you doing?" Edward purred into the phone at me.
"You little sneak, like you don't know what I'm up to. Alice doesn't let twenty minutes go by without calling you. But, I will humor you, we are getting a pedicure. I'm so thankful to be sitting down that I'll do whatever they want to do to me. Then we're going to stop for coffee for our dessert, and then I guess we're on our way home."
"Sounds like fun, did you get lots of stuff?"
"I bought so much that we had to have them ship home several of the larger items, there was too much to pack into Esme's Mercedes. They will be delivered in about three days. The rest we have in the trunk, Alice and I went by the check list of what every new mother needs from the magazine. We bought several shopping carts full of stuff, so if we need anything else we're going to have to wing it without it." He chuckled. "What did you do today?"
"Bella, I thought I told you this is all covert secret operations for the CIA I am involved with today, I can't tell you anything. Besides Rose has sworn to kill any of us that spill the secret to you. And I think she means it." He giggled, Rosalie had turned him into a twelve-year-old girl, what on earth were they up to today?
"Oooh, that sounds sexy do you have a secret agent name, every good agent has a great name, and a great car also. So, do tell, Mr. Secret Agent what kind of car do you drive?" I figured I could have a little fun at his expense for once.
"Aston Martin Vanquish, black with all of the spy gadgets and if you're nice I'll let you ride in it." He was pure sex on fire. I loved all of the sides of Edward, all different and all really, really sexy.
"Well if that is the case, then call me a model girlfriend. Black? Why not a flashy color?"
"Well black allows for sneaking in without being noticed." He deadpanned. "Are you with Alice? Ask her how long before you're home." He said changing the subject.
"Alice, Edward wants to know how long before we get home." I asked her as she snickered.
"You tell Edward this is my time with you and we'll be home when we get home." She turned back to her magazine and began sipping on her drink again.
Esme turned towards me "Don't pay her any attention; we'll be home in about an hour. We're almost done here, and then we can head home. We'll skip the coffee; you can't drink it anyway. We can have dessert later tonight. Tell him to stop fretting and just be patient; he can do his big reveal as soon as we get there."
"Edward, did you hear Esme?" I asked unsure if he could hear over all the noise of the spa.
"Yes, I did and tell her it is not the big reveal I'm impatient over. I can't wait to get my hands on you, I miss you, and you have been gone from my sight for too long. I love you Bella, and tell Makenna I love her also."
"Edward, you know my emotions are all over the map, don't say things like that to me, you'll make me cry." I sniffed, and tried to blink away the tears.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you cry, did you call Charlie yet and tell him the big news?" He asked, Lord he was like an ADD child without the medication sometimes. Usually when he was excited, so that made me a little nervous to see what this big reveal was about. I had a feeling that it was more than Makenna's room. I would have to wait and see because he was right I hadn't called Charlie yet.
"No, I guess I had better call him now before he has a chance to start any of his games, or I won't have his full attention. Can I call you back later when we're on the way home? Or will you miss me too much until then?" I giggled at his expense.
"Fine, Isabella, you want to play it that way, well you will pay for that remark." He snarled and hung up.
I worried that perhaps I had played a little too much and made Edward angry when a text came in from him.
B~
Fine, I admit it I will miss you too much till then, hurry home! I love you and Makenna!
E
He had no idea that I would miss him just as much!
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