Bella The Babysitter: Chapter 20

Bella the Babysitter

Chapter twenty

Edward Cullen POV

"Ooh what about this power wheels? Or a tricycle? Something he can ride, he likes to ride on that rocking horse and I want something safer for him." Bella mumbled mostly to herself as she searched through the black Friday sales ads for suitable gifts for Lucas. "The power wheels probably isn't safe seeing as it's a power wheel."

"He's only one babe. We should just wrap empty boxes because no matter what we put in them, he's going to be more interested in the wrappings and the packages." I shrugged.

"Edward Cullen we are not giving him empty boxes for Christmas." Bella scolded. "I want to give him the perfect Christmas gift. I know he probably won't remember it but I will. It's our first Christmas together and I want it to be special."

"Well he was just a baby so all he got for his first Christmas was burp clothes and diapers. That shouldn't be too hard to beat this year."

We went back to our tasks, Bella rifling through the many newspapers with a set of different colored highlighters while I cleaned out my laptop of unwanted files. Alice decided that we needed a day off andborrowed Luke for the day saying that she needed an excuse to go to the park and play in the sand box without looking like a pervert. Bella and I decided to stay inside seeing as it was freezing outside and there was nothing going on in town that sparked our interest.

"Did Vicky decorate the house for holidays?" Bella asked breaking the silence, she didn't even look up from the paper in front of her.

"Um yeah, she was a nut case for holidays." I replied shifting nervously. "James bought her the entire winter wonderland set up for their first anniversary and she had a sleigh and eight reindeer made by a local artist that works with metal bending. She loved his work so much, that for Easter she had him make a giant bunny."

"What happened to all of that stuff?"

"I guess it would be in the storage shed out back." I shrugged. "Vicky never threw away anything and she paid a lot of money for Uley to make those sculptures so I'm pretty sure they're back there."

Bella capped her highlighter and tossed it onto the coffee table before hauling herself up off the floor. "Let's go look."

"What? It's freezing out there." I argued.

"Edward I don't want to sit here all day. Let's go see if the stuff is out there and if it is, we can bring it out. I want to have it set up before Alice comes back with Lucas tonight."

"Bella."

"Please Edward. I want it to be a tradition for us." Bella pouted pulling a full on sad puppy face. "Every year we'll set up a winter wonderland for him before he comes home. We can even tell him that Aunt Vicky and Uncle James sent it to him."

Her words pulled at my heart strings and before I knew it, we were bundled up and headed out into the back yard towards the giant barn like structure. I was already freezing my ass off but Bella seemed unfazed by the wind chill as she practically skipped off towards the shed. I unlocked the padlock and pulled the double doors wide open waiting for bats or some shit to fly out but nothing happened.

"Wow." Bella said bravely walking into the dark. "You weren't kidding."

I felt around the wall for the light switch and flipped the lights on. Boxes upon boxes were stacked neatly all around labeled with both purpose and entire contents of each ones. "Yeah she went all out."

"No I'm talking about the OCD thing." Bella giggled holding up a small folder. "She has an entire color coded way of organizing all of this."

"That's Vicky." I chuckled taking the folder from her.

I immediately recognized Vicky's handwriting making me remember the last letter from her that I read informing me that Lucas was now mine.

"Hey, you alright?" Bella asked wrapping her arm around my waist and looking down at the folder.

"Yeah." I cleared my throat. "Just memories."

"Want to talk about them? I like hearing about them you know? Without them I wouldn't have Lucas." Bella gasped smacking her forehead with the palm of her hand. "I didn't mean it like that."

"I know baby. I get what you're saying. Let's start carrying these boxes out to the front yard." I handed her a small stack of flat boxes labeled Christmas lights before grabbing one of the bigger boxes.

"So what did the folder remind you of?" Bella asked as we made our way around the house deciding against walking through the house because of our boots.

"Vicky's handwriting. We had all of the same classes in elementary school so when we got to junior high and everything was segregated she insisted that we write notes to each other every period. It followed us up until senior year when we were able to pick all of the same electives so we didn't really have to bother with it. When we were adults in the real world every now and then I'd go to my mail box and find a letter from her even though we talked every day. The last letter I got from her was attached to her will."

"Your mom told me that you two were super close. I've seen a bunch of pictures of the two of you." Bella laughed opening the first box. "Hmm, we left the box with the hangers in the shed. I'll go grab them while you find a spot for the manger."

"Okay."

The rest of the day was spent walking back and forth from the back yard to the front, opening boxes and finding spots for the many things. Bella and I even managed to move the sleigh and reindeer out to the front yard without having to call Jasper or Emmett for help. Bella freaked out when I climbed on the roof with a staple gun and a string of lights following my every move with a cell phone in hand ready to call 911 had I fallen off the roof.

By the time we were done, it was just starting to get dark and we both had damp socks so Bella ran upstairs to grab us each a fresh pair while I made some hot cocoa. Alice called to inform us that she and Lucas were on their way home so I decided to take Bella outside and turn the lights on just to make sure that everything was in working order before they arrived.

We changed our socks and grabbed our mugs of cocoa before heading out to the front porch.

"Go stand over there." I pointed to the middle of the yard.

"Why? It's cold I want to cuddle." Bella pouted.

"Because I said so." I kissed her pout. "Now go."

"You're so frustrating. I hope you're happy when I catch pneumonia and you have to take care of me." she grumbled stomping in the ankle deep snow all the way to the area I pointed out. "And you need to go get me a new pair of socks because mine are already wet."

"I promise it will be worth it. Now close your eyes." I called.

"What? Are you mad?"

"No just do it."

"Fine you irritating man." Bella whined covering her eyes with one hand while clutching the cup to her chest with the other.

I quickly plugged the last extension cord in and flicked the switch on before going out to meet her. "Alright you can open them now."

The entire front yard was exactly how I remembered it when Vicky set it up in previous years. The lifelike manger sat just under a set of low hanging trees to give it more of a biblical look. The sleigh sat in the middle of the yard right under Lucas's nursery so that if we were to stand at his window you could see the entire winter wonderland.

"Oh my god." Bella whispered. "It's beautiful."

I looked down at her taking in the way the blinking lights that were hanging above us made her look almost ethereal. Her dark eyes shining brightly, and a mega watt smile almost hidden behind the long scarf she wore around her neck. Her hair was a little windblown under the handmade hat but she was perfect.

"You sure are." I whispered hugging her against my side and kissing her cold forehead.

"You're such a cheese ball Edward." Bella blushed as she took in the entire scene before us. "I think it's perfect."

"Do you have any Christmas traditions growing up?" I asked her once we were settled on the front porch to wait for Alice and Lucas to arrive.

"Not really. My dad couldn't cook worth a damn so we spent a lot of our Christmases at Denny's." she shrugged. "When he died and I moved in with my grandmother, she would go all out complete with a tofu-turkey for me and a real one for her. On Christmas eve we would open our stockings and sleep in really late on Christmas morning. She never had a whole lot of money so she would knit me a bunch of fuzzy socks and hats and buy me one thing on my Christmas list. So as far as traditions go I want to create them with you and Lucas."

"I think that's a wonderful idea. This was a brilliant tradition and I can't wait to see Lucas's face when he gets here."

"I know." Bella sighed I could tell she had something on her mind but didn't want to pressure her to talk. Over the past couple of months I had learned that Bella would come to me when she felt the need to share. Pestering her would only make her angry and an angry Bella was a scary Bella.

Once Alice and Lucas arrived we walked around the yard letting him take all of the sites in before he got fussy because of the cold and only wanted Bella. Alice left after informing us that she wanted to borrow him again sometime soon and we settled down in the living room to watch a few animated Christmas movies. Well, Bella and I watched them while Lucas played with his legos on the floor between us.

We settled into bed that night thankful for the electric blanket Bella insisted on because her feet were always freezing. I pulled her close knowing that whatever was going on in her head while we were outside tonight was still doing a number on her.

"You alright?" I asked softly rubbing her arms in an effort to comfort her.

"Yeah." she replied shortly.

"If you want to talk you know I'm here." I kissed her cheek. "Goodnight, I love you."

"It's just that, I realized today that I've lived an extremely sheltered life. I never had any stability so I guess I just realized that maybe the reason for my inability to be responsible is because of all the shit I've gone through. I lost my mom when I was just a toddler, my dad when I was a teenager and then my grandmother a couple of years later. Rose and Emmett weren't exactly there like you and Lucas are." she broke off her voice full of emotion. "I want to be good enough for the two of you."

"You are more than good enough baby. We wouldn't want you to be any different." I kissed her cheek as a tear fell. "I don't want you to be upset over this because I have no way to show you how much we appreciate everything you are for us. I love you and I hope that's good enough because all I want from you is your love."

"God Edward." Bella giggled and sniffed. "You made everything better with that cheesy speech right there. Thank you."

"Any time."

"I love you."

"I love you too baby."

I watched as she got comfortable in the crook of my arm falling asleep almost instantly and knew that I needed to make it official. We were meant to be a family and maybe making it official would show her that she was good enough for Lucas and I.

I fell asleep, my head swimming with ideas and I knew I would have to call the only person that could help me.

Alice.