Pre Edit Count –   2,067 Words

Song I listened to for this chapter:  Good Life by OneRepublic

Previously:

Smiling, she tells him, “Of course I do.  You brought a peace offering before even knowing you needed one.”

Smirking, Carlisle looks down at her, “The coffee?”

Looking back up at him, “Shirtless, almost naked you.  Wonderful eye candy in the morning.”  She somehow manages to say it with no expression on her face.  Her feelings give her away though.

Carlisle can’t help the laugh the comment.  He tells her mischievously, “I can make sure you get all the eye candy you want of me anytime.  I can make it naked eye candy anytime you wish.”

Laughing back up at him, Bella arches an eyebrow, “Oh, don’t think I don’t know you’re being serious!! I saw how fast you stripped last night.”

He grins at her and kisses her quickly. “Anytime for you, sweetheart. Now, I am going to go downstairs and make you breakfast.  Why don’t you get dressed and join me.  We can plan out what we want done with the house before the guy gets here, and we can also work out how we are going to get your new vehicle.  I may ask Edward to take us if you don’t mind?”

She smiles and hugs him as she tells him, “Nope.  And I will be down in a minute.”  And she admires that ass of his as he leaves, and can’t help but laugh when he shakes it as he grabs the shirt next to the door and exits the room.

Now:

Carlisle has her breakfast waiting for her when she gets downstairs.  She smiles when she sees her yogurt with the granola on the side, remembering their first morning together.  She gives him a kiss on the cheek and promptly sits down to eat as he puts a fresh cup of coffee in front of her and then leans on the counter across from her as he watches her.

Looking around, she grins at him and realizes that while she was getting dressed, he must have opened the house back up.  Bella is also looking around, not sure how much they can really change of the interior.  She turns her attention back to her food and mixes the two together looking to see the fruit that was sliced for her.  Carlisle does take his duty as her mate seriously.

Watching her, and see the looking around she is doing, Carlisle asks, “What is it?”

After swallowing, she tells him, “Wondering how much can really be changed.”

Smiling, he tells her, “All of it.  I have found over the years that the houses I bought never looked the same when Alice got through with them.  I got to the point that I never bothered to look at the houses ahead of time since they never seemed to look the same after.  All I cared about was that there were private places for me and everyone wass happy with it.”  He is watching her, the Bond is singing with their happiness.  This is good, this is how life should be.

Shaking her head, Bella looks up at him, “And you want me to take this over? Carlisle, I-“

He leans across the counter between them and puts a finger to her lips. “Eat and I will tell you.”  Once he watches her take another bite he tells her, “I thought about it last night as you slept, and I think I will enjoy having a separate residence for awhile.  It is trying for a newly mated couple to be with others.”  His face drops, “Plus there will be another couple once I fix my mistake.  And I do not think two newly mated couples will be good in the same house.”

Bella arches her eyebrow, hoping he will open up to her about it.

Sighing, he leans back into the counter behind him, his arms behind him resting on the counter as he starts to tell his beloved about the biggest mistake he has made. “Before Edward was a newborn, I came across a woman who had impressed me with her zeal for life and her innate kindness.  But she was young, barely 16 and had the rest of her life before her.  I moved on as was normal.  Later, after I had turned Edward and helped him through his newborn years, I met her again.   I was drawn to her, and when Edward rebelled and left me there, I was also depressed.  He left to spend years drinking human blood, using his talent to determine who was right and wrong.  Later that month, I was in the morgue when I heard the sound of a heartbeat.  Racing around, I found it, and it was the young lady I had met when she was 16.  Realizing that she was dying, I changed her.”

He looks out the window.  “For the first ten years, I fell in love with her.  I thought she was the one.  I had been so lonely, only to gain Edward then have him rebel against my ways.  The woman struggled, but she felt for me as well and we were talking about getting married.  I felt like there was something missing in our relationship and while I was the one who suggested it, I put off the wedding.  I used the fact that we had to move again as the last resort.”

Swallowing as he remembered the day that had hurt him so badly in the past, “We had just moved into our new place and Edward walked in the door.  They glanced at each other and that was it.  I could not believe that it was the mating pull, having never witnessed it in action like that.  So I got mad.  When I was done venting, well Edward stayed, feeling guilty that he was in love with the woman I had proposed to.  And the woman left, feeling guilty for it happening and that Edward was in such pain over it.”

He looks at her beseechingly, “Bella, I really had no idea.  I thought for some reason that they did it to spite me.  Edward never let me know he was in pain!  If I had some idea about it, I would not have separated them.  It was a long time later that I watched Rose and Emmett.  But Emmett was half in love with her before he was turned, and I thought that was why they reacted like that.  Jasper had commented once about it, but never brought it up again.”

Feeling his pain through the Bond, Bella walks over to her mate, and wraps her arms around him.  She can feel the guilt he has over it and tells him soothingly, “Carlisle.  I am sure they all understand.  You have allowed Esme to come back haven’t you?”

Startled, Carlisle stares at her. He ias worried about how she would take all of this.  His love is all for the petite woman in front of him.  He is willing to do whatever she wants, even releasing Edward from his side if it is what she wants.

She smiles and teases him, “I’m not blind.  I remember your reaction and comments about Esme.  It only took your explanation to tell me why.  Now, you have told Edward to bring her home, right?”

At his guilty expression, she sighs. “Why not?”

Looking down at her he divulges to her softly, “As my mate, you have just as many rights as I do.  And any change to our coven is to be with your permission.  I wanted to talk to you and make sure you would be fine with it.”  She is here, and he will have her in his life as much as possible, making decisions with him.

Shaking her head she tells him, “Why would I be upset?  She is Edward’s Mate.   And as you told me yourself, once mated, the males cannot be with anyone else.  I have nothing to worry about.  Now pull out that phone you seem to have on you at all times and tell Edward to bring home his mate.  And if he cannot take us to get the SUV today, that is fine.”  She looks up at him adoringly, finally admitting to not only him, but to herself that Carlisle is hers.  He will not be leaving her, nor will he push her away.  She had thought this before, but seeing how dedicated he is to her rams it home.

He watches her as he pulls out his phone and calls his Beta.

When Edward answers, Carlisle tells him simply, “Bring her home, Edward.  And let me know if you need to leave to get her.”

Bella is smiling as she realizes her friend will be happier now.

Carlisle laughs and holds the phone out to her.

Taking his phone gingerly, Bella asks, “Hello?”

Edward’s excited voice is all she really needs to hear, “Thank you, Bella.  Thank you so much.  And I will be happy to take you wherever you need today.  She will need a day or so to get here.  Alice is on the phone with her right now.  Thank you!”

She can’t help but laugh at him,  “If you are sure, Edward.”

His joy is hardly hidden as he tells her, “No problem.  Plus I haven’t seen you today.  Have fun with the planners and I will see you later.  Thanks again, Bella.”

She hands Carlisle his phone and states, “Our good deed for the day is done.  What’s next?”

He laughs and pulls her close to him as he kisses her.  Their Bond is wide open and the adoration he feels for her is coming back doubled and he is ecstatic.  He knows Bella cares for him, both she and the Bond show it.  But to have his affections coming back the same as he is sending them to her, it is more than he hoped for at this time.

He lets her take a breath and kisses her nose.  Opening his eyes, he informs her honestly, “I love you.”

Bella’s eyes widen. She knows it, has felt it, but to hear him admit it, well that is something new.  She opens her mouth but nothing comes out.

Smiling at her, feeling more at ease that he got it out to her so much more easily, he advises her softly, “No need to tell me, sweetheart.  I can feel it, and if you are not ready to say it, then don’t.  One day you will tell me as I just told you, from the top of your heart, something you have to say.  Never worry that I don’t know how you feel, I feel it through our Bond and am never disappointed.”

Shaking her head she expresses to him, “Sometimes, I think you read my mind.”

Grinning, he pulls her close and kisses her hair.  “Let me clean this up since it will take me less than a minute.  I put out the laptop in the living room and we can discuss what we like and don’t like before the contractor gets here.”

She smiles and heads into the living room, and just as she makes it to the couch, Carlisle is there pulling her down onto the seat.  She laughs as he pulls the laptop over to them.

They sit down and after handing her a notepad, they make notes on what they do and don’t like.  It seems they both love the feel of the Mediterranean styles, with the more natural feel to it.  They never find exactly what they like in other pictures, but they pull the items that they do like, and Carlisle quickly takes the pad away from Bella, instead opening a document to put the links with comments in it.  The two of them get so lost, that when the doorbell rings, it startles both of them, which makes Bella laugh at him.

He gets up and, putting her back in the chair, gives her a look as he goes to open the door.  Not able to help it, she sends her mirth to him.

Carlisle just opened the door when her mirth bubbles up in the Bond causing him to grin.  Then realizing what she has done, he takes a deep breath as he sends her mischievousness.  Oh yes, he will be getting revenge if that is how his little mate wishes to play.

Greeting the man, he escorts him into the living room, stopping slightly in front of Bella.  Carlisle throws her a quick glance and grins as he sees her grin.

Brad looks at the two of them, then takes in the home.  It is styled as he thought it would be from the outside.  He turns and studies the couple in front of him. Neither of them are what he would deem a chic country look.  He wonders how they will change the rooms and keep the house the same.  Smiling at the two of them, he walks forward to shake hands with the male. “Hello.  I’m Brad, and I will be helping you guys remodel.  Now my notes say the kitchen and dining room, is that correct?”

Shaking his hand, Carlisle smiles easily at the man. “Hello.  I’m Carlisle and this is my fiancée, Bella.  We originally wanted to do the kitchen and living room, but talking, we found we hated the whole thing.  We would like to redo the entire house.” He is straight up, wanting nothing more than this man to do what he needs to do and leave.

Brad blinks.  “The whole house?” It would make it easier, but why the whole house now?  And do these people realize what is going to be involved with that big of a redo?

Bella can’t help the grin as she catches Carlisle’s mischievousness.  There is no sign of it on him, and she realizes this is why most don’t know her mate as she does.  “Yes.  The house was designed by his sister, and to tell you the truth, she really has no idea what the two of us like.” And the two of them have found that that is a massive understatement.

Nodding, Brad looks around the house.  “Are you sure you don’t want to tear it down and start over?” He is calculating what will need to remain and what he can sacrifice to their idea.  And mentally he is hearing the award for most money brought in for the quarter being given to him.

Carlisle is firm, “No.  There are reason’s behind it, but we just want it redone.  It may not need as much interior work as you think, but the country chic needs to go.” He glances at Bella as he repeats her comment when they had started looking at the designs.  He sees her grin get larger, and pulls her to his side and wraps his arm around her with a quick kiss on her head.

Blinking as he realigns his thoughts, Brad asks, “May I look around to see what we have to work with?”

Carlisle is uneasy, his instincts are going nuts and he searches for a compromise.  Thankfully, his mate comes through with one.

“Why don’t we first talk about what we like, and then we will walk through the house together and hash out the details that way?  You will find that we have done our homework, and looked online to see what we do like, and are open to suggestions.” Bella is quiet, but she is firm.  She is learning from Carlisle how to get her message through to others.

Smiling, as the idea turns over in his head, Brad nods.  “Okay.”  He clasps his hands, “Where do we start?”  And all he can hear is the dollar signs in his head as he grabs his iPad and gets down to work with the couple.

Final count,  2,636 words.

Fairfarren~Wendy