Chapter 25 ~ Grapes of Wrath

Edward

Felix Volturi was a big guy.

He’d always been bigger than all the kids I knew, growing up.

Even Emmett.

And his career in bullying began at a very young age, to boot.  Oh, he was harmless enough, at first.

Taking milks in Kindergarten, pushing a fellow class mate out of their chair so he could have a better view of Mrs. Peterson in second grade…but then he moved on to bigger and better things in Middle School.

Yeah, he still took part in the classics.  You know, wedgies, swirlies, nipple pinching, things like that.  But he also participated in the rib bruising, hair cutting, cornering the weak, money thieving shit that would land him his rep for later on…in High School, where he’d graduated to man handling his girl friends, causing a few “accidents” that landed a couple of the football scholarship bound athletes in the hospital…

He never did intimidate me or Emmett though.  

We always took pride in standing between him and a few of his victims as we caught wind of what was happening every so often.

And it wasn’t always simply because we liked to get into trouble.

There was always something underneath it all.

Something a little more…meaningful, somehow.

And anyway, I’d known him too long and was aware that he was really just a dip-shit show-off that liked to throw around words like “My family owns this…” and “My family bought that…”

His father, though… now that’s another story.

And it wasn’t so much that Aro was a big guy, it was that he was a big, powerful guy.

Although, he didn’t seem as “big” now as he had when we were all younger. 

Maybe it was his age and the deterioration that brought with it.

Maybe it was the Army experience I’d had.

Or both.

As we stared each other down, both ignoring his pompous son, I thought about his words.

I wasn’t sure if he could actually sue me for something someone else wrote, but I knew Aro had lawyers he was paying more money than equaled twice my dad’s mortgage to make sure people regretted going up against him at any time.

I pretended not to know or care about that, as I eyed the paper he held up for me to read.

“Wow, someone really dislikes your son,” I told him, then I looked him in the eye.  “You get my message?”

I was referring to the obituary, of course.

He knew it.

But he was ignoring a few things, himself, apparently.  “I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Edward.”

He began folding the copy of Jane’s letter up again as he said, “People are beginning to talk around town because of your stunt last night.”

“Really?” I asked him and then gave him my best I really don’t give a fuck look.  “Rumor mills kinda suck when they’re directed at you, don’t they?”

He raised an eyebrow at the ceiling, making it clear to me that I was insignificant in his world.

“After all these years, Edward, why would you want to drum up such old news?” he asked me.  He looked like he was amused with the whole thing as we took part in our own little Western type standoff.

Felix, who wasn’t doing anything but letting daddy do his dirty deeds for him, smirked at me.

I shrugged.

“I dunno, it seemed like a good idea at the time, I guess,” I told him as I eyed Felix, silently daring him to smirk, one more fucking time.

“I want you gone, Edward.”

This statement brought my glare back to Aro.  “Excuse me?”

“Now that your father is passed, there’s really no need for you to return, ever, and I mean to ensure that by taking the vineyard off of your hands.”

“Again, please?” I requested, thinking my hearing was a little off or something.

“I’ll pay you handsomely, I assure you.”

“And I will gladly pay you Tuesday, for a hamburger today,” I mumbled, still trying to work through the mother of all hangovers.

He scowled.  “I’m sorry?”

“Nevermind, listen, Aro…”

“I’m proposing I buy your father’s property, Edward. I suggest you take me up on the offer, you won’t get much money from anyone else based on the property values of late.”

I hesitated.

Anybody would have, right?

“Come now, son, it’s not like you’re staying after all…what difference does it make?”

Hesitation gone.

Guilt for hesitating…incoming.

“Don’t call me that.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m not your son, Aro, and I’d rather go into debt ten times over myself than sell to you…” I looked to Felix. “Or anyone else in your family for that matter.”

And then his face changed.

From the amused, powerful father of a dipshit son…to more of an annoyed powerful figure in a town that had no more patience for the previous fuck up of an old privately run vineyard owner.

He seemed to tower over me, all of a sudden.

“You’ve caused quite enough trouble for this family, Edward….visiting past mistakes….spreading lies, throughout the town…”

Visiting past mistakes?

Did he know I’d gone to see Jane?

This is when the three of us seemed to simultaneously notice a commotion going on outside.

He eyed a few people who were talking to the pastor and I wondered how many of them out there had actually seen that letter.

We’d posted a lot.

I mean, a lot of those copies.

It was quite possible they’d all seen it.

And now I was finding the whole situation a little amusing.

“There’s a few things wrong with your libel theory, Aro,” I told him and he tilted his head a little out of curiosity as to where I was going with this.

“I didn’t even write that letter, so…”

“Yes, but you did assist in the spreading of these…lies against my son…you’ll be held accountable for assisting in…”

“Who said they’re lies?” I asked him, crossing my arms.

He laughed and Felix followed suit like the performing monkey that he was. “Surely you don’t expect this…entire town, to believe that…”

“You know as well as I do, Aro…they believe what they wanna believe.”

Felix’s eye roll told me, he still didn’t believe he’d ever done anything wrong and I was near that point again… the one where I nut punch his ass and watch him bleed out.

It was dangerous territory, considering I really didn’t want to have to call my commanding officer and explain that he needed to bail me out of jail or anything.

“I expect this to be righted, Edward,” Aro warned me. “I can’t have my son’s reputation…”

“What can I say?” I asked him blandly.  “Life’s a bitch.”

“So am I,” Bella said as she took a stance beside me and my lungs filled with air, finally.

I smiled over at her.  “You came back.”

It was odd, I thought.  We hadn’t been raising our voices or anything. I was starting to think she had spider senses when it came to me and trouble.

And I smiled a little.

Bella the superhero.

She bakes pies at the speed of light and smells trouble within a mile’s radius.

“And you are?” Aro asked down his nose to her. 

She smiled back at me before looking up at him, reaching a hand out in only a way that Pie Girl could.  “Name’s Karma.”

And while Felix whispered something into his father’s ear, Bella shot me a knowing look.

Like I was about to be led into a dark room with lots of strangers shouting “surprise!” at me.

I scrunched my eyebrows a little.

“Ah, Miss Swan,” Aro mused and I noticed he had the exact same smug smirk his son liked to don from time to time.

Mostly when it wasn’t very appropriate to smirk.

At all.

“Hey, Edward,” another person hollered out from behind Bella and I.

“Emmett? I thought you were…”

“You’ve got a visitor,” he told me, nearly smiling and I was lost. “Three or four, actually.”

“It’s four, babe,” Rose told him, entering along with everyone else.

“We’ll continue this later, perhaps, Edward,” Aro told me.  “Before you leave, though.”

“Actually Aro, they’re here to see you, too,” Emmett told him, as a few girls followed him into the Church, which I was finding….odd, considering I hadn’t seen or spoken to any of them since like, tenth grade.

But maybe they were stopping by to pay respects.

Who knew.

“I don’t…” I started to let Aro know just exactly what I thought he could do with his offer, when I noticed the police officer.

Not Newton, this time.

It was the chief.

Which was giving me, not such a good feeling about posting copies of Jane’s letter around town all of a sudden.

I wasn’t kidding about not being able to afford getting arrested the day before I was supposed to head back to Georgia.

“I’m gonna need you to stick around, Aro,” he said, and then nodded toward Felix.  “You too, son.”

“Chief,” I said, respectfully as he approached us, behind the girls.

Completely confused.

People paying respects…getting arrested…all at once?

Is that even ethical at a funeral?

“Lauren.” I noticed finally. She looked nervous and, before I could get anything else out, she made a small glance in Felix’s direction before she hugged me.  “I wish I’d had someone like you there, the night he raped me,” she whispered into my ear and then she backed away and I noticed the piece of paper in her hand.

I looked up at her and locked eyes with her for a moment, letting it sink in, what she’d said.

Then I moved to Jessica Stanley…and Angela Weber.

They were both also holding a copy of Jane’s letter.

And I got it.

And. I. Got. It.

“Holy shit.”

“What is this,” Aro demanded and Felix, who was now sweating visibly, started backing away slowly, behind his father.

Only he wasn’t going to be able to protect him this time, I was guessing, considering one of those girls that the chief was escorting in to see us was the daughter of his older brother.

Bella took my hand and squeezed slightly.

Emmett piped in again, then.  “Hey Felix, did you know there’s a three year statute of limitations on rape charges?”  Which meant, I was guessing, that all these instances had happened within that time frame.

And that even if Jane had wanted to testify, it wouldn’t have done us any good.

“Dad…?”

And the smugness… finally gone.

They both looked priceless and I wished to God I’d have picked up a camera while I was in town.

“I’m afraid your son is under arrest, Aro.”

“She’s lying!” Felix screamed. “They’re all lying whores!”

I actually shook my head in slight disappointment at him, wondering how he hadn’t even know the simplest of unspoken rules within the criminal world… Never. Talk.

Aro did nothing to stop the Chief as he approached Felix and turned him to face the wall of the Church.

He did pull his cell phone out, though.

“Felix Volturi, I’m placing you under arrest for the suspicion of both rape and attempted rape against these girls …. You have the right to remain silent…”

“Dad.”

“Officer, isn’t there something…” Aro started to ask, but the chief just eyed him. 

“I think that means shut up,” Emmett told him, whispering, only…not, and my shoulders were moving as I attempted to hide the laughter at the irony of the situation.

Only…you know, not.

“Anything you say, can…and will be held against you in a court of law…”

“This is ridiculous,” Aro was stating as he began calling the lawyers.

“You have the right to an attorney….” the Chief was saying and I thought, wow, de ja vu…’cause I’d been there, knew how Felix was probably feeling right about then…nervous his first time, unsure how things will turn out, wishing his dad wasn’t busy calling a lawyer…

I almost felt bad for the guy, but…

Nah.

And as Chief finished up his thing, Aro shot me a deadly look as he trailed behind them, threatening his lawyers and warning Felix to shut his trap.  Good luck with that.

Aro never was one for giving anyone the satisfaction of showing them if he was worried.

Then again, maybe he wasn’t.

Or maybe he just didn’t give a shit.

Regardless, he was always a pro at the intimidation tactics.

For once, though, I kinda sorta felt like there wasn’t a whole lot of merit behind any of them…and I mock saluted him as he disappeared outside with his soon to be criminal son.  Something we used to do, back at base, when we really wanted to defy an officer.

Of course, it usually got you a few days in the brig, but most of the time…it was worth it.

“Dude.”

Emmett McCarty.

My oldest friend.

He has quite the way with words.

“You can say that again,” I told him and then turned my attention back to Bella.  “Thanks.  Again,” I told her and she just shrugged.  “Seems like maybe Carlisle had that last word, after all.”

I couldn’t help but let the grin spread across my face at that comment. “Seems like.”

After a half hour or so of the girls from Felix’s past thanking me profusely for what I’d done…

What we’d done.

The four of us took a few minutes to gain our composure over the complete shit storm we’d just stirred up for the Volturi’s.

And, despite the fact that I’d be burying Carlisle’s ashes soon afterwards, I felt…pretty good.  And not even so much over the fact that Felix would be going to jail…that he’d be paying for…something at least, but over the fact that for at least those three girls who were willing to come forward and press charges against him, they’d be getting some justice too.

And that maybe that would somehow help Jane move forward with her life.

We headed back to the vineyard after that.

Rose and Emmett holding tightly onto each other in the front of his Jeep, Bella and I curled up against each other in the back.

And while her eyes were focused on watching the crops and crops of grape vines as we passed them, my mind was on her.

I don’t know if she noticed how much of a hold she’d had on me.

How much of a hold I literally had on her at that moment in time.

So much so that I didn’t want to let go.

And had no idea how I would when the time came.

But I was working on it.

At the house, people came, people went, they ate, they drank, they told stories and laughed.

Alice seemed…sad.

I noticed her take a call at one point, it was probably Jasper… and that seemed to make her smile a little.

I worried about what she would do…where she would go, once I left.

Then I heard the words echo over and over and over again, in my head.

Once I left.

I checked the time.

Less than twenty-four hours, now.

And as the crowd thinned and there were only a few of us left, I found myself sticking close to Bella, no matter where she’d gone off to.

If she was putting dishes into the sink, I was next to her, rinsing them off.

If she helped put food away, I was getting the cling wrap for her.

Hell, when she had to pee, I waited near the door.

Later, in the kitchen, once everyone who was of no consequence to me was gone, our tiny group wiped counters, threw out paper plates and plastic cutlery and, just when I thought I’d get through the night without a single emotional outburst, Emmett ruined it for me.

“I’m really glad you came home, Edward,” he told me.

Right smack in front of me so there was no where left to go.

Like he was about to bear hug me until I let it all out or something.

Then he just smiled and punched me sideways in the arm. “Sorry I decked you those couple of times, dude.”

I laughed, shaking my head at him as he gave me space and then more giggles and murmurs sounded as I made my way back to a spot that was within arms reach of Bella.

“What about you, Ed?”

“Hmmm?”

I hadn’t been paying attention, honestly. I was too busy watching Pie Girl tuck some hair behind her ear as she reached up onto her tippy toes to grasp at something on a higher shelf than she could get to easily.

I grabbed the bowl and handed it to her.

She smiled.

But it was a sadder smile than normal and I held the bowl a little longer than I should have as she took it from me with a small, “Thanks, Grape Guy.”

And Emmett chuckled at me. “You glad ya came home?”

My eyes found nothing, then, as I let his words repeat themselves, silently.

Was I?

Despite the fact that I’d had to face things I wasn’t all that well prepared to face?

That Felix had hurt someone I cared about deeply?

Watching my father die.

Realizing I had to say goodbye to people I finally realized cared about me.

That I cared about them.

And the vineyard…

I found Bella again, who was looking at me with…probably the same thing I was thinking…feeling and that’s when I knew.

Despite all the bullshit, even.

 “Yeah.”

I half smiled but Bella’s face… it fell a little and her eyes darted away as we finished cleaning up and then finally, I made an executive decision when Emmett proposed getting the cooler of beer out again.

“Not that I wouldn’t love throwing a few beers back with ya, Em… but if you don’t mind, I’d rather not spend the last night I have with Bella drunk off of my ass.”

“Right, no,” he smiled. “I get it…We’ll just…” he thumbed over his shoulder and then said, “Call me before you go, tomorrow, okay dude?”

“Will do,” I told him, knowing I wouldn’t, then I saw them to the door.

Alice was wiping down the counters when I approached her.

I put a hand on her shoulder and she turned into me, hugging my mid section tight before I’d even gotten a word out.

I let myself breathe for a second or two before trying to say what I needed to say and then I told her, “Thanks for taking care of him, Alice.”

She sobbed, she couldn’t talk, she just nodded.  But then she gathered herself and let go of me, finally, looking me square in the eyes.

“Thank you for loving him.”

When I didn’t say anything in return, she told me, “He was happy today.”

A half laugh through the nose, an awkward smile, and then she let go, and said, “Goodnight.”

As she made her way to her room, I noticed the cell phone she slid out of her pocket and she began making another call.

Probably Jasper, again, I thought and it struck me that I was about to see him the next day…night, whichever…

It was an odd feeling, I was glad for it, but also…

“Hey,” Bella’s hands slid around me from behind and I let out a painful breath before turning to hug her properly.

We stood there like that for a while.

It could have been minutes.

Could have been hours.

Didn’t really matter, I just loved the feel of her against me, all sexual innuendos aside.  She was simply a perfect fit there, in my arms.

My eyes closed and I could have literally fallen asleep there, standing entwined in Bella’s arms except there was still something I needed from her.

No, craved from her, before I left.

Sexual innuendo and all.

I pulled away, only far enough that I could hold her face in my hands and tilt her eyes to me and that was when I saw the tears.

“It’s not gonna do either of us any good for you to cry, Pie Girl,” I told her and she nodded a small nod before I drew her lips to mine.

I moved slowly, in an attempt to let each and every moment of that night with her burn itself into me so that I could relive it and, despite Bella’s sense of urgency, I managed to control the moments.

For a while.

Upstairs, in bed, it was a battle for that control as she moved against me, hardening everything, quickening my blood…

I couldn’t help but notice the clock.

Sixteen hours.

As I kissed her, I tried to convey the way she made me feel.

As I removed her clothes, I attempted to make her understand how precious she’d become.

And as I guided her body to lie down, my lips, fingers, teeth even…in some instances, touched every part of her as tiny sounds of understanding made their way to my ears.

I slinked off of the bed, pulling Pie Girl’s legs to the edge then spread her legs for her as I kissed her thighs and ran a hand up her calf.

“It’s not the caves,” I said, spreading her wide for me. “But it’ll do,” and her giggles filled the room as I closed my eyes and my tongue entered her and she tensed a little at the initial contact, bucking her hips into me.

I knew how to make a woman cum.

I especially knew how to make Bella cum.

I loved making her cum.

But this… this wasn’t about sex and orgasms.  It was about conveying to her that I would miss her.

Miss this.

Being with her.

My tongue told the tiny nub of sensitivity on the outside.

My fingers told her on the inside.

And when she came, the sounds she made told me the same things.

I kissed her quivering belly, the dip between her breasts.

Her breasts.

And those nipples.

“Bite down,” she whispered.

Eyes closed.

Arched body.

And she hissed when my teeth did what she requested.  Her hands, grasping at my hair.

Then she pulled me to her, wrapping not only her legs, but her entire self around me.

I kissed her shoulder.

A few times.

Not hard or rough or…desperate like I may or may not have wanted to, just…lightly, as my fingers said a soft hello to places that were still wet and inviting.

Our lips touching, our hands moving and bodies aching the way they were, it made everything so much more intense than I’d even expected it to be and when I slid into her, all I could do was rest my head against hers and breathe.

Because no words would ever do justice, the way she made me think…feel…

And what good would they do anyway?

Those three simple words that people say to each other every day, but do they really know what they mean?  Do they really appreciate the depth of them?  How they affect everything else, from that point forward?

And then what about the following day, when I leave.  Where would those words leave us?

I’d be gone and possibly even killed in action, or hell, in training and where would those words be?

What good would come of them?

They’d only bring pain and anguish to someone I couldn’t ever bear to see in pain.

So I didn’t whisper that I loved her.

I didn’t make promises that I’d heard lots of men make to women before they left the base camp.

I just showed her how she affected me.

How every muscle that moved, every word I said, every square inch of my being… was hers.

And how it always would be.

And when I came, I didn’t need vulgarities to make her understand the perfection and sense that she’d brought into my life.

I simply said her name, softly, into her ear and let my lips fall against her.  Along her jaw, her cheek, her lips, to seal it there.

Forever.

You’d think we were teenagers, after that, making out in the back of my dad’s “borrowed” car for the first time, the way we couldn’t get enough of each other that last night.

And I couldn’t.

Eventually, we let ourselves give in to the fatigue of the day.

The previous few days, actually, and just lay there.

I couldn’t sleep.

I was too busy watching the time pass.

Watching the time I had with Bella pass.

Watching it dwindle down to nothing.

I thought she was out for hours when I heard her whisper, but then I realized she was talking in her sleep.

Something I hadn’t noticed she’d done, before that.

“Edward?”

I didn’t know if I should answer or…just let her talk, so I sat there, frozen, afraid to move in case it freaked her out.

“Edward?” she called more urgently, so I whispered to her, “I’m right here, Pie Girl,” before kissing the top of her head.

Then she relaxed and huddled up next to me a little more, before the next word escaped her.

A word I hadn’t expected, or really wanted to hear.

One that caused my chest to hurt and my heart to sink.

A request I couldn’t give her.

And that hurt more than wanting it.

“Stay.”

I wish.