FYH Chapter 9

FYH Chapter 9

Reconciliations and Departures

BPOV:
After I got over the initial shock of being attacked in a hotel lobby by a huge man that I now know to be my brother in law the day with them was rather nice. I have to admit that I was just as scared to meet with them as Edward was. From the conversation that I had had with them on the phone the other day they sounded rather nice, nicer than Edward made them out to be, but then again the experiences he had with them had made him jaded in his opinion of them.
Edward was having such a hard time helping me make the decision as to which car we were going to get and that stemmed from never having made a decision even remotely close to this size for himself before. So, I pushed him. I wanted a partner, an equal partner, in life, not someone that I controlled. I was not his mother nor was I Tanya.
During lunch they all managed to hash out a lot of things between them and Edward finally was in a place emotionally that he was really ready to move on. I knew it when he said "blue". He was ready to try to put the past behind them and move onto the future. I wasn't naïve enough to believe that all was going to be perfect with his family from here on, but things were going to get better. There was still a strain when they told us about everything that had been going on with the family, especially when it came to discussing their parents.
They told us about the anniversary dinner that his parents had, and how, unlike previous years it was just family only. Edward had started to look upset before Rose stopped him in his tracks.
"Edward, don't you dare feel guilty about them not throwing a party. They are dealing with a lot of things right now, especially Mom. And yes, some of it has to do with you but not because of you or anything that you did. Actually, you taking off may have been the best thing that you could have done for the family. Mom is finally taking steps to heal from those losses and that is a good thing."
"That is a very good thing Edward, and we wanted to tell you that, well, we decided to follow our dreams as well." Emmett continued, "We are going to open a vintage auto repair and body shop. We've always wanted to but…"
"But what?"
"But we were afraid to tell Dad and that he'd make a big deal out if it be mad and say that we were being irresponsible and foolish. You know Dad may have been trying to drill it into you to keep your head out of the clouds but we were affected by that shit too."
Edward looked taken aback by his brother's confession that his parents' behavior towards him had affected everyone. He wasn't the only one that was afraid to follow his dreams and just be happy. I must have looked rather pissed off at this point because Rose reached over and took my hand, "they aren't bad people, Bella, and I know that you can't have gotten a great impression of them, or any of us for that matter so far, but you haven't seen the good parts, their compassion, and their love for their family."
"They have a strange way of showing their children that they love them."
"They have made some huge mistakes, but they want to atone for them. They are seeking help to learn how to do so. Please give them a chance."
"You're right that I haven't gotten the best first impression of them, especially your mother and I just can't understand how a mother treats her children that way. I can't understand why everyone just sat back and condoned this behavior."
They all sat in silence for a moment before Edward finally spoke up; "It wasn't right that anyone condoned the way that I was treated. But, in all, I didn't stand up for myself either. I allowed it to happen. I let everyone that said they loved me walk all over me and push me around. I need to own my part of this and admit my fault too."
"Edward you didn't…"
"Didn't what Emmett? Didn't stand up for myself? Didn't tell my mother to back off and let me make my own choices, especially regarding the woman that I was going to marry? That she wanted me to marry but I could not stand? I allowed all of it to happen."
"That's true Edward, you did. But it never gave any of us the right to treat you like we did." Rose spoke up. "What is important though is that you finally found the courage to do so and that you did it before it was too late. We are all so proud of you, Edward, and so happy that you finally found your peace and happiness with Bella."
"Thank you, Rose. I really needed to hear that. Just out of curiosity, though, how did Tanya take the news that I found someone a hell of a lot better?"
Both Emmett and Rose looked at each other and started laughing hysterically at what had to be some inside joke until finally Emmett pulled his phone out of his pocket. "I would have sent these to you but you left your phone behind." On his phone were pictures of three women that definitely looked like they had been attacked by something.
"What the hell happened to them?" Edward finally got out, having joined in on the laughter at seeing the pictures.
"Rose and Alice happened to them. They tried to attack Jasper and me and they defended us. Jasper even threatened them that he wasn't afraid of going to jail for beating on them if they continued their attempts to attack us. In the end they ended up getting their asses handed to them and they were the ones spending the night in jail."
"They went to jail? For what? Assault?"
"No, actually it was failure to pay their hotel bill." Emmett went on to explain that their Dad made an arrangement with the hotel manager so that he would tell them that they needed to pay for their rooms and per the arrangement if they did not produce the money then the manager would call the police and have them arrested. As long as the manager held the charges over night their dad would tip him $1000 and then pay the bill. Of course the manager was more than happy to oblige the deal.
I was really conflicted about Edward's family at this point. I knew that most of the thing that I knew of them came from Edward's jaded opinion and the crappy things that they had done and their abhorrent treatment of him growing up, and then you have the things that they have been doing lately. Stories like these make me believe that they were good people underneath all the crap on top. Everyone makes mistakes it's what you learn from those mistakes and take with you that count and how you change to prevent making the same mistakes again. It led me to wonder about the Newton's and if they had ever learned their lessons. Were they sorry for mistakes that they made? Were they sorry at all for taking my parents from me? Or we're they still just angry at me for suing them?
EPOV:
The time that we had with Emmett and Rose went a lot better than I had hoped for. We invited Emmett and Rose to go along with us to the dealership to look at the car that we were going to get but they declined wanting to rest before we met up again to spend the evening together.
Something had dawned on me during the afternoon that we spent together at lunch, that I owned some of the blame for my mother having that much control over me. I had always hated how controlling she was with me but I never made her stop. Sure, I had tried to tell her that I was unhappy, but then she'd start crying and dad would give me angry looks for upsetting her and I would cave. I would love to say that I would never let that happen again, but who would I be fooling? I know that it is going to take a lot of time and patience for me to gain some self confidence.
After we test drove and purchased our new blue Dodge Journey, Bella and I made our way back to the hotel to clean up before we had to meet Emmett and Rose. Rose was being really sweet to Bella and I knew that they genuinely liked each other. Bella didn't necessarily care for my mother at this point and that was ok with me right now. Yeah, I know, I am still a little bitter.
We all had a lot of fun that evening even though I could tell when we met up that Emmett and Rose had been crying. We kept it simple that night and just went for pizza and then mini golf and then back to the hotel to share some of the baked goods that my mom had sent us. She had sent almost all of my favorites and a lot of them at that.
I had absolutely no idea that Bella was that competitive. Her and Emmett got into several arguments about the rules and posture and accusing the other of cheating. But as they were both in fits of laughter the whole evening, I think it was all in jest. I think. I hope. Although she did smack him upside the head once which made Rose start laughing so hard she had to sit down on the ground for a minute to recover. In the end Emmett and Bella ended up tying for the win. I think that it was the first time that I have every spent so much time with my brother and really was able to relax and enjoy myself.
As we stood in the parking lot of the restaurant where we ate breakfast ready to part ways Emmett grabbed me into a hug. "Edward, I love you. You know that right? Rose and I and everyone we love you and no matter what you decided to do or where you go that won't change and we'll stand behind you all the way." We were both crying at this point and he let me go and grabbed Bella into a hug and made her promise to take care of me.
They watched as Bella and I got into the car and drove away. I took out the new cell phone that I had purchased the night before and sent a text to Emmett saying that I loved him too.
The pictures of Tanya and her sister were priceless not to mention the fact that my dad had her arrested. I can safely say that she got exactly what she deserved. Even with her infidelity and horrid behavior I was starting to feel bad about the way that I had ended things with her.
"Love, honestly, do you think that I am a coward?"
"Honestly? No, I do not think that you are a coward. I do think that you have an issue with self confidence, though."
"But, I ran away." I looked down at my lap.
"Yes, you did. But, I don't think that staying would have been the answer either. I think that it was braver of you to come with me than staying behind at dealing with all that."
"But that's my point. I left my family to clean up that mess for me."
"It was a mess that they made, Edward, not you. It was their responsibility to clean that up and from the pictures that we saw it looked like they had a lot of fun doing it too."
"Yeah, they did. Can we talk about one more serious thing for a moment?"
"Sure. What?"
"I have thought about this and I do not want to return to Phoenix to live when we are done with this trip." I went on to explain how, while I was working on forgiving and repairing my relationship with my family, I did not want to live that close to them at this point. I still did not trust them not to meddle in our lives and I wanted space. She asked if I wanted to go to college and neither of us were too sure that we did. We didn't need the money that a college education would bring us in our careers that was for sure. And Bella did not want to return to Washington on a permanent basis either. So we decided that for the remainder of our trip we would take time to look at the various places that we were visiting for possible places to make our home.
A/N:
Ok. I realized something while writing this chapter…this story is going off in a direction that is completely different than I originally intended. But that's ok and I am going to let it. I still stand behind my very little angst promise, but mostly at the moment the story is going to be about Edward rebuilding ties with his family while he discovers himself with Bella. I do also promise that there will be no cliff hangers or major fights that span chapters. I will resolve things each chapter. Now, I am off to start the out take. I will let you know via twitter (branson101) and the blog (bransonstories101) on blogspot if there will be any further delays.
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