Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

To Love Again

By Mama4Dukes

Chapter 03:

Bella’s POV

Eddie and I were on our plane ride home from our honeymoon in Hawaii. We had spent two glorious weeks frolicking in the sand and making love in our hotel room. We barely came up for air except to eat.

Eddie and I have been together for six years. We met during our freshman year of college at a house party. Neither of us knew anyone so we started talking. He turned out to be a really funny, sweet, and sensitive guy and the two of us hit it off like two peas in a pod. We’d been together ever since and there was nothing that we didn’t know about each other.

Two weeks ago, we had our wedding on the reservation where Eddie and I lived. It was a wedding full of surprises. For one, my father had replied with a ‘yes’ to our wedding invitation. This is the man who had missed almost every major event in my life. I guess my wedding was too big of an occasion to miss, even for him. When I received the reply from him, I contemplated whether or not I wanted him to walk me down the aisle. Phil had been more of a father figure to me since leaving Forks, and Charlie had been kind of cold, and honestly, he had never really been in my life when I was a kid. I decided to just let Phil give me away. It was my wedding, after all, and Charlie invited me to his wedding, but I wasn’t part of the wedding party. We were, for the most part, acquaintances while Phil and my mother have been my support system. After we got married, Phil, my mother, and my in-laws surprised us with a honeymoon to Hawaii. Then Charlie surprised us with a whopper of a gift: the deed to his house in Forks. He had put it in my name stating that he lived in Sue’s house in La Push. I tried to return it to him, but he told me that he had purchased the house originally to raise me in so it was always intended for me, and that I should do what I pleased with it: sell it, rent it out, or use it as a vacation home. I thanked him, of course, but still had no idea why he gave me such an outrageous wedding gift.

A few hours later, the plane had landed and we were back in San Diego. We had a thirty-minute drive to the reservation. For now, we lived in an in-law apartment attached to Eddie’s parent’s house. We could afford to rent out our own place, but we were saving money for a down payment on a house. We didn’t mind living with his parents anyway. They were very nice and they didn’t hover over us. We had a separate entrance and kitchen so we were able to live our own lives.

“Back to real life, I guess.” Eddie sighed as he started the engine to our car.

“I suppose, but real life is not such a bad place with you there.”

“That’s exactly how I feel, Mrs. Cheveyo.” He leaned in to kiss me on the lips.

Twenty-five minutes later, our car was crossing the intersection on a green light when we were blindsided on the driver’s side by a Mercedes which came from out of nowhere. An hour after that, I was hovering over my unconscious husband, bawling my eyes out. He was a mangled mess and the doctor’s had done all that they could.

Eddie suddenly popped his eyes open. “Bella,” he rasped. I moved in closer to him. “Listen to me, honey, don’t say anything until I’m done. I want you to promise me something.”

“Anything.”

“I want you to promise me that you’ll live your life, follow your dreams, and love, Bella. Love with your whole heart just like you love me. Stay happy and strong for me, Bella. You’re still young, and if you meet someone, love him like you love me. Keep your mind and your heart open to new possibilities. Open your heart to love again. The world is a big place. You’re destined for greatness, honey. I love you, Bella. You made me the happiest guy in the world and I’m going to leave this earth knowing that I knew eternal happiness.”

“Eddie, please…” I sobbed.

“Promise me, Bella.”

“I promise.”

“Look at me, honey.” I did as he said. “Now stop crying and smile for me.” I took several deep breaths to calm myself before I tried my best to smile for him.

“I love you, Eddie. You-all of you. You’re my other half and you know me like no other. And you’ve always been the owner of my heart.”

“I know. Now I want to feel your lips on mine one last time.” I kissed him on the lips, trying to send him all of my love. “Keep your promise, Bella. Stay happy and strong and welcome love, never turn it away. You need to love again! I love you, Bella,” were the last words that fell from his lips. We were looking into each other’s eyes when he flatlined.

I vaguely remembered the doctor calling the time of death. The howl which left my body reverberated throughout the hospital. I fell on top of Eddie and refused to let him go. He was still warm. How could he be dead? He was so young; so full of life. How could this happen? How could this cruel world take him and not me? Why leave me on this earth to suffer through life alone? Why?

“Wake up! Wake up, Eddie! Please! Don’t leave me here alone! Oh God, whyyyy? Why did you take him from me?” I cried in agony, but I knew he was gone. He was gone along with his dreams. Eddie wanted to have kids and raise them on the reservation, surrounded by family. He wanted to succeed as a financial planner so our dreams could become reality. He wanted to purchase a house, and I wanted to travel the world with him. He was determined to make both our dreams come true-we both were. And now, all of a sudden, those dreams were extinguished along with a most beautiful life and the most unconditional love I would ever know.

I felt warm arms wrap around me, it was Mark, Eddie’s father. He looked about as bad as I felt. Eddie’s mother wasn’t faring very well either. The three of us held onto each other for comfort. After about an hour, the doctor pulled the sheet over my husband’s face. I asked him to wait, kissed my husband one last time on the lips, and vowed that I would love him forever.

The next six weeks were a blur to me. I was completely unable to function. Eddie’s parents made the funeral arrangements. I went through the motions in complete agony. My mother and Phil & Charlie and Sue flew down for the funeral. Mom stayed to take care of me until she was sure I could function without breaking down. About a month after the funeral, I returned to work. I kept a cheerful smile on my face for my students, but inside I was a mess. I made sure that I ate and worked out at the gym like a mad woman. Exercise seemed to take the edge off of things, and I knew that Eddie would be proud. He was a gym monkey. I wanted to try and stay strong like I promised my husband I would.

On Sundays, I kept up the tradition of having family dinners with Eddie’s parents and siblings. On this April Sunday, it was just his parents and me. I knew something was up.

“Bella,” Lisa, Eddie’s mother, said. “Mark and I were talking, and we’re kicking you out of our house at the end of the school year.”

Well, that was unexpected. I thought they loved me?

“Please hear us out. We’re not doing this because we want you to leave; we’re doing this for you.”

“For me? I can’t understand how throwing me out of my home can benefit me.”

“Yes, for you. Mark and I love you like you’re one of our own, and we especially appreciate how you loved our son with your whole heart. But he’s gone now, Bella, and he’s never coming back. And you, you’re still young. You’re only twenty-five years old, and you need to start over. You need to find love and run with it.”

“I don’t think I can,” I cried.

“Yes, you can. Eddie wouldn’t want you to live out your life alone. He would want you to open up your heart to someone else. He would want you to have babies, raise them, and live a full life, Bella.”

“He’s gone, I don’t know if I can go on without him.”

“But you have been, Bella. You put on a brave face and you’ve been doing your very best at staying strong for him. Now you have to be strong for yourself and start living your life.” She rested a comforting hand on my arm.

“Bella, if it were the other way around. Would you want Eddie to go through the rest of his life alone?” Mark asked.

Never, I could never be that selfish. I finally understood what Eddie was trying to say when he told me to welcome love and never turn it away. He didn’t want me to be alone, he wanted me to find love, and go on with my life.

“If it were the other way around, I’d want Eddie to go on with his life,” I answered honestly.

“Exactly, Bella. Lisa and I love you; remember that. That’s why we’re doing this.” Mark crossed over and hugged me. He allowed me to cry into his strong arms. And when I was done, I knew what I needed to do. I needed to keep my promise to Eddie.

Two months flew by and I was beginning to cope better. The driver of the Mercedes that hit us was charged with vehicular homicide while under the influence of alcohol. As part of his plea agreement, he was sentenced to eighteen months in prison without the possibility of parole and ordered to pay a million dollars each to me and to Eddie’s parents for pain and suffering plus all related court and attorney’s fees. He was remorseful, that much I would give him. He was a wealthy family man who made a bad decision and his children and wife would be without a father and husband for eighteen months. But we would be without Eddie forever.

I still had no idea where I was going to move to. I had a week left of teaching school and my apartment was all packed up. I didn’t have much because the in-law had already been furnished when we moved in.

There was a knock on the door and the FedEx deliveryman was standing there with a package. I signed for it and he went on his way. I saw from the label that the package was from Alice. I opened it up and there was a set of sterling silver forks inside with no note.

Forks? Why would she send me forks? And then I understood her message. I knew where I was going. I was going back to Forks.

The next day, the FedEx man stopped in with another package from Alice. I opened it up and chuckled. There was a beautiful mahogany wooden chest with an etching of a wolf on the lid, and when I opened it, the rest of the sterling silver flatware which came with the forks was inside. There was a short note scrawled in her beautiful hand in the box. ‘I thought you might want the rest of the set. It’s not like I have any use for it. I’m glad you got the message. Remember, keep your promise to Eddie and open up your heart to love. Be accepting of whatever comes your way. I love you, Bella. Alice.’