Southern Comfort: Chapter 15

Southern Comfort

Chapter Fifteen

I wake up in Edward's arms feeling well rested and happier than I can ever remember being. He's still asleep and I don't want to wake him up so I remain as still as possible, watching his chest rise and fall with each breath. I watch his mouth curve upward minutely for a second as if his sleep is filled with good things.

Flashback:

"Did you just propose to me?" I ask in a shaky voice.

"No, darlin'." He kisses my nose. "But now that I know we're both on the same page, I gotta warn you that it will happen soon."

"How would that be a warning?" I lean up and kiss his lips. "I'd marry you tomorrow if you asked me, Edward."

"I know and that's why I'm going to wait," he says, squeezing me to his chest. "I know the suspense will kill you and I'd like to introduce you to my family as my girlfriend before we get hitched."

"You want to marry me?" I ask unnecessarily.

"I want so much more than that, beautiful," he vows. "I want you to have my last name. I want to wake up to you every morning and come home to you every night. I want to be able to kiss you or make love to you any time one of us feels the urge. I want to have babies with you and I want to raise them to be wonderful people like their mother."

By the time he's finished talking I'm in tears.

Our kisses are languid, but they don't go any farther than that. We eventually pull away still connected by our limbs and fall into a peaceful sleep. He tells me he loves me before I succumb.

End Flashback

My mind starts going over the possibilities.

Edward could propose tomorrow at his parent's New Year's party. He wants to introduce me to his family as his girlfriend. He didn't say how long he wants that title to hold. He could wake up right now and ask me to get in the car so that we could head over to the Cullen Estate right now to get it over with and I would.

I should know by now that Edward is never going to do what I expect. The man is completely frustrating.

We spend the entire day before New Year's Eve cuddled up in his bed and I try to get him to make love to me, but he's persistent that the time isn't right. We order take out and eat the left over cobbler. I don't change out of his boxers until the next afternoon when he takes me back to my place so that I can get ready for the Cullens' party. We plan on staying the night there, so I pack a bag while he waits in the living room and he takes it out to the car while I shower and choose a dress for the occasion.

Part of me is hoping that the night will end with a proposal, even if it's only been days, so I choose a sexy sleeveless black dress and a nice pair of flats. Add a few trinkets, like the diamond earrings he gave me the night I graduated college and a necklace that I found at a pawn shop a couple months back, and I'm ready to go.

Alice is beside herself when we enter the house. We aren't holding hands because we're each carrying an overnight bag and I'm clutching my jacket closed because I'm freezing. She takes one look at us and informs us that we'd better tell Esme before she explodes and outs us to the world.

The party has already started and I'm a nervous wreck when Edward leads me towards the kitchen after we drop our things off in his childhood bedroom. Esme is plating a tray of finger foods while Carlisle pops the corks on several bottles of champagne. She looks up for a second to greet us and then looks back down, before snapping her head back up, her gaze locked on Edward's hand that's clutched in mine. The food is forgotten and she's around the island before I can blink.

"It's about damn time," she cries.

Edward and I both roll our eyes because it's not the first time we've heard that statement. She asks us how long it's been going on and before I can answer, Edward answers that it's been a while. Carlisle, never a talkative one, merely gives an accepting nod in our direction before turning back to his bottles.

We're set to work, plating food for Esme and carrying them out to the banquet room where all of the guests are waiting. They've invited more people that last year and I'm glad to see a few familiar faces.

Two in particular stand out the most and I feel my heart lodge in my stomach when I recognize them.

"Daddy," I breathe.

"Hey there," he greets awkwardly, giving me a stiff hug before returning back to his wife's side.

"Sue." I hold my hand out, but she merely ignores it and I let it fall to my side. "What are you two doing here?"

"Well... Esme called a few weeks ago and invited us. The kids are off doing their own thing so we decided to check it out," my father explains.

"Oh." I set the plate of deviled eggs on the table and clasp my hands together.

My relationship with my father has always been strained. He missed out on a lot of my childhood once my mother left him and took Emmett and I with her. He was a wonderful father on the off times we ever got to see him. Then he met Sue, his current wife, and under her insistence, adopted her children. I always felt that he tried very hard to make up for his lack of parenting my brother and I with Leah and Seth, and in doing so, he all but severed the ties between his old family.

The year he got married, Emmett disowned him and requested that I never talk about the sperm donor.

The year he forgot to invite me to Thanksgiving was the last holiday I attempted to attend and he never tried to insist. Nowadays, he doesn't even reach out an invitation.

I'm beginning to grow nervous under Sue's scrutinizing stare. Her daughter is currently in her first year of medical school and engaged to a wealthy business man. She's also seven years younger than me. Sue never understood my career choice and couldn't seem to wrap her mind around the fact that I was quickly approaching thirty and I've never had a long term relationship. She makes it known quite well that I'm not her favorite person and in this very second I want to be anywhere but here.

A warm arm wraps itself around my waist and I immediately relax. A kiss is pressed to my neck and I shiver. "Hey there, beautiful." Edward's voice is full of love and sincerity. "I was wondering where you ran off to."

He knows my relationship with the two people standing in front of us is strained. I'm hoping that he's come to cart me off to socialize with someone else... anyone else, but Edward always does the opposite.

"Oh Charlie!" he exclaims, holding his hand out towards my father. "I'm sorry I didn't see you there. Then again Bella's in the room; it's hard to focus on anything else but her."

I blush.

Edward's being dramatically nice.

My father smiles as he shakes Edward's hand.

Sue's eyes narrow.

"Bella... I didn't know you were dating anyone," she comments icily.

I'm about to ask her how the hell it's any of her damn business, but Edward cuts me off and explains that we've kept to ourselves lately.

"You know how love is. I want her all to myself." He squeezes me closer to him and I know it's in an effort to shield me.

"Hmm," is the only reaction we get out of Sue.

"That's wonderful, Bella," my dad says. "How serious is this?"

Sue's head perks up at my father's rather personal question.

"Oh, very serious, sir," Edward answers before I can. "In fact, Bells and I were just talking about starting a family."

"Shouldn't you be married first?" Sue asks Edward, but glaring at me.

"Of course," my loving boyfriend replies, kissing the top of my head.

"Well, you know when Jared was planning on proposing to our Leah, he took Charlie to a cigar room and asked for permission." Sue's head cocks to the side. "You haven't contacted Charlie in any way," she tsks.

"With all do respect, ma'am, I was raised with southern values and I do believe that before asking for a woman's hand in marriage, a gentlemen should first consult her father for his approval," Edward chuckles humorlessly before looking my father dead in the eye. "But I also believe there's more to fatherhood than donating the sperm that helps create the child. So in our case we need no approval from her father's side. I'll consult Renee and Emmett when the time comes."

Sue's face turns blood red and my father looks ashamed because he knows Edward's right.

Edward steers me away from them without another word. We both get a glass of wine from the open bar. He asks me numerous times if I'm alright and I reply that I am each time because it's the truth. My dad and his wife leave without saying goodbye to anyone and that's fine with me.

I share numerous dances with the man I love and when the clock strikes midnight, he kisses me with so much love and tenderness that I hope he makes the night all the more special with that small, but important, question. But he doesn't ask and by the time we fall into bed, I'm okay with his decision to hold off because I know it will happen.