A/N: I hope that you all are doing well or as well as you can be. I am so sorry for the wait on this chapter, but Real Life has a habit of getting in the way… I basically work 6 days a week so whenever I am not at work all I want to do is vegetate. On the one day off that I usually have my son and I are usually running around going shopping for the things that we need. Being on my computer is a rarity currently. Since I was on it tonight I decided to do a update for you all. I unfortunately only have one more chapter written, With my mojo being what it is I have no idea when I'll get back to writing. I do miss doing sooo. I do want to thank you for following, favoriting my little story, leaving a review if you so happen to do so, even if you left me an emoji I appreciate it and most especially for sticking with me.
It has been decided between my beta flamingpen18 and I that from this chapter 20 and until it is finished that the chapters will be posted without them being edited as well as anything else I post since Real Life for her has been rough. So instead of having you all wait till who knows when for them to be gone through they will be posted as is. So any and all mistakes are mine and possibly teamhotmen who is one of my prereaders. She follows along as I write for the most part.
**Warning**
Do not read while hungry. Also, you might want to have some snacks handy just to be on the safe side. You've all been warned. I am keeping this warning up for you all to be forewarned for future chapters. No food was mentioned in this chapter, just saying.
None of the characters belong to me. They belong to S.M. or any other writers or creators unless there is a character that I have created myself.
Side note from teamhotmen: Our lovely Author has stated in a few chapters that Edwards family COLLECT CARS can we stop the issue with him buying cars for his Bella oh and FYI she loves purple.
With that being said… enjoy!
E POV
Christmas was always at my parent's house. However, with more people added to our family, it is going to be at our house even if it wasn't official. We had more space to have everyone over. Bella and I spent the days before Christmas decorating the house inside and out. I found out that Christmas is her favorite holiday. More so especially since we went to Florida. She had dragged me out shopping when she found out that I didn't have much in Christmas decorations. Of course one of our stops was at The Disney Store. I dutifully stood by her as she piled things in my arms. It got to the point that I needed help, so one of the cast members put the stuff behind the counter until we were ready to check out. Most of them were ornaments for the tree. We also got a tree skirt, some things for the kitchen, and some blankets that she just had to have. She was just so adorable running around the store. She also picked out matching Christmas sweaters for us.
After we had checked out at The Disney Store, Bella told me that she wanted to go to Target for some of the stuff that we needed. She also mentioned Walmart for the things that we couldn't find at Target. Needless to say, it was one long day. We had dinner while we were out shopping. I had to call Eli to let him know. He said that what he was going to make for dinner will hold for tomorrow. We came out of both stores with two carts. Thank goodness I decided to bring the Escalade. I thought about bringing the XT6, but then I thought that the extra space may have been needed, and was I ever right. While we were out, we also bought Christmas gifts for my family. Bella had heard about a store that was similar to Bath & Body Works. She said it was called The Body Shop. She wanted to see what they had and how they smelled and that if she liked it enough she could always buy them online. She found stuff for my mom, grandma, and the girls. Thank goodness Tori wasn't with us. She probably would have tried to buy the store out. I also told Bella to find something for my aunt, as Tori's parents were coming for Christmas. She also got some stuff for herself. We left there with a bunch of things for all of the girls. Bella was told that there were more items on their site other than what they had in store. Needless to say, I already know that there will be more things than I would know what to do with once Bella was done ordering all the things that she wanted from them.
When we got back home I was too tired to unload the things that we got. Even Bella was looking a bit tired. "How about we unload the things tomorrow?" I asked her when I pulled the Escalade into the garage.
"That's okay with me. We can start decorating as well."
"How about a soak in the tub? I don't know about you, but I could use it." I told her.
"Hmmm, yes, and then maybe a snack afterward and then maybe a movie?"
"Okay, let's get inside."
I followed Bella inside and up to our room. I went to go start the tub while Bella walked into our closet to get undressed. I waited till the tub was filled enough before I started the jets. Once that was done I went to go get undressed. Bella was about to walk out of the closet, I stopped her to pull her in my arms and kiss her. I let go of her and she made her way to the tub. I made sure that the floor heater was on as well as the one for the towel rack before joining Bella. She scooted forward so that I could get in behind her. I pulled her back to me and wrapped my arms around her. As we sat there I placed kisses along Bella's neck. She would let out little moans here and there. After a bit I could feel her body get heavier, I knew it was time for us to get out before she fell asleep. I know that she was still trying to catch up on her sleep. Mom was keeping her pretty busy with the planning of our engagement party as well as the wedding. We also had the holiday party coming up for Cullen and Company. Em, let's host it there every year. He closes the restaurant a few days before to get everything ready.
As Bella and I were getting out of the tub she told me that our engagement party was going to be at Em's restaurant. He offered to let us have it there. He's going to close early and get everything ready with the help of his employees and mom, Tori, Rose, and Alice were going to do all of the decorating for the party. It's a good thing that Em has time between the two parties, I thought otherwise I don't know if he would recuperate from them or not. I know that the holiday party takes a lot out of him just from all the prepping and then preparing the food. Em is very hands-on in the kitchen. He usually there unless family happens to pop in which is every day since his restaurant is in the Cullen building,
"Why don't you get into bed and I'll go and get us a snack?" I said after we put some pajamas on.
"Okay," she told me.
Once I got back with our snack and drinks and I got into bed, Bella snuggled up to me. She already had the tv on. She had put Noelle, a Disney movie that she had found on Disney +. Once I had heard about Disney + I knew that I was going to have to get it. I would normally find Bella attempting to watch it, but she would usually be asleep by the time I would get to bed. The school was taking a lot out of her. Tori and she decided to lighten their load for the next semester. Even Tori said that it was a bit much for her. While they enjoyed what they were taking, for the most part, they didn't have time for anything else. Rose said the same thing which is why she's not taking as many classes. Alice thought she could handle it and agreed that she was going to lighten her load of classes as well. The girls were all in agreement that they would like to spend a bit more time with their men. Though they didn't have to go to school if they didn't want to. They didn't even have to work if they wanted to as well. Alice though I believe would end up bored if she didn't go to school. Bella could just come to work with me. I'd like that a lot, I mused.
The movie ended up being good or so I thought. Bella looked like she was ready to fall asleep. I turned the lights and tv off and got back into the bed. I pulled Bella into my arms where she buried herself under the covers more and snuggled even closer to me. I kissed her forehead and told her that I loved her before falling asleep myself. Bella mumbled something back to me after I told her that I loved her, though I couldn't understand her at all.
The next morning came by way too quickly in my opinion. I looked at my phone to see that it wasn't as early as I thought it was. Bella was still passed out. I was able to get out from under her since she was using me as her body pillow to go to the bathroom. Once I was done in there I went back out to the bedroom to see that Bella was still sleeping. I went down to the kitchen to see about finding something to eat. Eli was there and he pointed to the various dishes on the counter and told me that they just needed to be heated up.
"How was shopping yesterday? You seemed to be a bit tired when I talked to you."
"Tiring," I said to him. I told him how we went to the Disney Store and all of the other stores that we went to. "To top it off we didn't even get a tree," I told him with a shake of my head."
Eli just laughed at me and said that he and Carmen had a lie this morning and that she was staying in bed as she was feeling a bit under the weather. I told him that I hope that she feels better and that he did not need to stay at the house and take care of her.
"I'll just leave a note on how to heat the food for dinner then. I'm guessing that you and Bella will be spending the day decorating?"
"Yeah, and we have to pull all the stuff out of the Escalade still."
"Have fun with that," he told me with a snicker and left to go look after Carmen.
I found a tray and added our plates of breakfast and our cups of coffee. Bella was still asleep when I got back, but she was holding my pillow to her. I put the tray down on the dresser and went to wake her up so that we could eat the food before it got cold. I sat beside her and kissed her on the side of her neck.
"Baby girl, it's time to get up. I brought breakfast up here," I told her.
"No I don't want to," she told me and grabbed a hold of me.
"We're supposed to decorate today, remember?"
She let go of me right away and sat up. I pulled back as soon as she let go of me thank goodness otherwise we would have been bonking heads. She started bouncing up and down on the bed. I shook my head as I got up to grab the tray. She got back on the other side of the bed while I was getting the tray, I placed it in between us and we got to eat. We both put our coffee cups on our bedside tables so that they wouldn't spill. As we were eating Bella mentioned that she hoped that we got enough decorations.
I raised an eyebrow and asked her." Why wouldn't we have enough?"
"Because I want to decorate the backside of the house as well as Dad's house," she tells me. "Do Eli and Carmen decorate?"
"I know they do on the inside. They haven't done the outside," I tell her. She nods her head. I foresee another day of shopping, I think as she continues to nod her head.
"We need to do more shopping. Can we go tomorrow?"
I knew it. "Sure baby girl. We'll get whatever you think is needed. Plus a tree. We never did get one while we were out."
"Thank you!" We also need to go back to the Disney Store," she tells me. "I forgot to get ornaments for the tree," she said and then continued to eat.
I shook my head at that and thought of course we do. I don't know how she missed the ornaments. Our house is going to look like Walt Disney himself threw up on it. Bella does seem to like a theme when decorating or in her case, it has to be Disney. There are things way worse for her to like that's out there. At least it's something that I like and can tolerate.
Once she was done eating, she went to get ready for the day. I finished my coffee before joining her in getting ready. Before going outside to start the decorating we took the dishes back down to the kitchen. Bella put them into the dishwasher while I went to get the stuff out from the Escalade. I gave her the stuff that we got as gifts to put away in our room.
We started with the lights. Charlie came out to help us out. He just shook his head at all the things that we had gotten. I told him that we weren't done shopping since Bella wanted to continue the decorating throughout the back. I wouldn't be surprised if the garage was added to the list of things that needed decorating. Even Charlie thought that as well.
We took breaks to warm up, use the bathroom when needed, and eat as well. While Charlie and I cleaned up all the trash, Bella went to go warm up our dinner. Charlie joined us as well. Once we were done eating and the dishes loaded into the dishwasher along with the breakfast dishes and it was started we said goodnight to Charlie and went up to our room. Bella and I took a long soak in the tub, before getting into bed and watching some Christmas movies. Bella fell asleep in the middle of the second one. I turned the tv off and settled in to go to sleep after setting my alarm for the next day.
A/N: Just in case you didn't read this at the top. It has been decided between my beta flamingpen18 and myself that until her Real Life becomes better that I will be posting the rest of the chapters unedited. So that you all won't have to continue to wait till who knows when. It's not like my Real Life has been sunshine andaisies. With that being said any and all mistakes are mine and possibly teamhotmen's,
My life is different since last year and it's been a learning experience that's for sure. In case you didn't remember my husband passed away in January 2021 and I was with him for half of my life. In today's terms that is a long time to be with someone. I'm taking life one day at a time still. Valentine's Day. the day of love my 16 year old Chihuahua passed over the rainbow bridge. On October 1, 2021 one of my best friends who was like a little sister to me passed away from complications from a surgery she had done. Needless to say 2021 was shit in a handheld basket. It was a year of loss for me. I'm in somewhat of a better place. I still have my moments of being sad or crying. You've probably heard this before, but never take your loved ones for granted. Also give them a hug and tell them that you love them.
Sorry for the wordy A/N's, but they are needed. If you read them both then I thank you. I will finish this story that is my promise not only to you my readers, but to me as well. When I started Edward's Rules I never thought it would take this long to write let alone finish it. Stay safe out there and I hope that you all are doing well or as well as you can be.