[FanFiction] Love Like Crazy

The house smelled wonderful, as was usual this time of year. Bella had never failed to produce a wonderful holiday feast. The kitchen was filled with her beautiful voice, as well as the voices of Kate, Alice, Leah, and Rosalie. From the sound of it, they were debating what would be the final dish of tonight’s menu.

I couldn’t help, but smile as I shook my head, and turned on the television. The game would begin soon, so I switched the television to the sports channel, to watch the pre-game show.

“Game on yet?”

Glancing up, I saw Paul come out of dining room with a biscuit in his hand. He stared at me questioningly, and I shook my head. “Nah, just watching the pre-game show.”

He chuckled, and sat down on the couch. “It’s good to have you and Mom home. I didn’t think I would get you guys out of that old house.”

I quirked an eyebrow, and looked over at him. “Don’t knock that house. It may be old, but it’s a good house.”

I heard Leah’s laugh break out just a moment before she came into the living room. “That house is more than just old, Dad. Cavemen built it.” Paul joined in her laughter as she sat down next to him.

I sighed, and shook my head, turning my attention back to the show. A few minutes later, the angelic voice of my love caught everyone’s attention. “All right you guys, dinner’s ready!”

Leah and Paul, the twins, stood and headed to the dining room. I stayed behind, grabbing Bella by the wrist, and pulling her toward me, my arms wrapping perfectly around her waist. “Hey baby, want to get married?”

She smiled at me, and it was the same smile that had won me over all those years ago. “I can’t believe you think that’s romantic. Aren’t you supposed to get down on one knee?”

I pulled her closer, and gently kissed her lips before speaking. “That’s not what you said when I asked you.”

She nodded. “I know that. I’m more mature now.”

“We both are.”

“Hey,” Emmett shouted. “Will you two get in here; the bird is going to get cold.”

Bella and I laughed together, and pulled away, just holding hands, as we walked into the dining area. I released her as I stood in the doorway looking at my family. Leah and Paul, were the babies of the family. Leah was a student, focusing more on getting her accounting degree finished than anything else.

Paul, the ham of the family, was studying acting at Julliard. That’s where he’d met his girlfriend, Claire. He’d been anxious for us to meet her, but she’d been invited to go with a dance troupe to Paris. She hadn’t been able to find a flight to get her home in time, so we’d have to wait for another time to finally meet her.

Tanya, the next oldest, was sitting with her girlfriend Victoria. The two announced to us this morning that their IVF had finally worked, and Tanya was now pregnant.

On Leah’s right was my first born, Emmett, and his wife Rosalie. The newest addition to our family, baby James, was swaddled in a blanket in Rosalie’s arms, sound asleep. Their daughter Bree, who had just turned seven, was seated at the children’s table, bossing around her younger cousins.

Jasper, the second born, sat with his wife Alice across from Leah. Their son Riley, who was three, was one of the ones being bossed around by Bree.

Lastly, was Kate and her husband Garrett, sitting next to Alice. Their little boy Jared, who was five, sat at the children’s table with a pout on his face.

The two ends of the table were empty, as was the norm on holidays. These two spots were where Bella and I sat.

I heard Bella clear her throat, and looked to my left to see her carrying the turkey. She set it down on the table, and smiled lovingly at me as she handed me the knife. I moved to my side of the table, and began carving off slices of the bird.

The dinner was nothing less than delicious. Bella and I sat around the table with our children, and their spouses, enjoying the food, family, and conversation.

When we’d all had our fill, I stood and helped clear the table while the others went off to do their own thing. In the kitchen, I watched as Bella loaded the dish washer. I set the dishes in my hand on the counter, and grabbed her shoulder, turning her to face me. “Have I told you today that I love you?” I asked.

A quizzical look came across her face. “Hmm, I don’t think so.”

I smiled, and brushed my fingers across her cheek. “I love you.”

She stood on her the tips of her toes, and kissed me gently. “I love you too, Edward. Now go in there with your boys, and watch the game. I’ve got this.”

“Are you sure?”

She nodded. “Yep, I’ve got to get the dessert buffet set up anyway.”

“You’re amazing.”

She chuckled, and pushed me away playfully. “You’re just saying that because you want some later.”

“Please,” I mock pleaded.

She laughed, and snatched a towel off the counter, throwing it at me. “Get out of here.”

I held my hands up in defense, and took a step back. “Yes, ma’am.” With that, I turned and headed for the living room, groaning when I saw SpongeBob on the television. Riley and Jared sat on the floor in front of it, singing along with the theme song, while Bree stood behind them, her arms crossed, and a scowl on her face.

“Hey, I was watching that,” I said in playful frustration.

“Grandpa!” Bree shouted, running toward me. I picked her up, and hugged her tightly, happy that she hadn’t gotten too big for me to do it yet.

I sat her down, and walked over to my Lay-Z-Boy, sitting down and relaxing. “I thought you were too old for SpongeBob, Bree.”

“I am,” she announced. “Riley and Jared wanted to watch it. I was trying to turn on iCarly.”

I shook my head, chuckling. “I was going to watch the game with your dad and uncles.”

She stuck out her tongue, frowning. “No way! Football sucks!”

I laughed, and just as I was about to say something else, Riley turned around, and smiled hugely at me. “Grandpa, when did you and Grandma meet?”

“Come here, and sit on my lap. I don’t think I’ve told you this story yet.”

He ran over, and jumped into my lap, shocking me for a moment. The TV clicked off, and I glanced over at Jasper to see him holding the remote. “Am I the only one that can tell this story?”

He nodded. “No one tells it like you do, Dad.”

I glanced down at my grandson, and he smiled at me again. “Do you want to hear the whole story, or do you just want to know when we met?”

“Hmm,” he said, his finger resting on his chin as he thought about my question. After a few moments of his precociousness, he turned his attention back to me. “The whole story!”

“Yeah?” I asked. He nodded his head fervently. I looked up just as Alice, Tanya, Kate, and Rosalie entered the room, each sitting down next to their respective spouse. In front of the television, my other two grandchildren sat, their legs crossed, anxious looks on their faces.

I let out a long sigh, and began my story. “Bella and I met in 1952 when we were seventeen years old.”

“You guys went to school together, right?” Bree asked.

I nodded. “That’s right, Bree. Bella was the new girl at our high school when I met her.”

“What happened?” Jared asked.

“Well, we fell in love with each other. Neither of our parents were too happy to hear that we were going to get married. They said we were crazy, that we had no idea about what love was.”

“But you got married anyway,” Riley said.

Smiling, I nodded. “That’s right. We knew we loved each other, and that’s all that mattered.” The kids laughed as I continued my story. “When your grandmother and I first moved in together, we barely had anything. I was only getting paid sixty-seven dollars a week.”

“Wow! Daddy makes way more than that,” Bree said.

I nodded. “Yep, he does, but back then the value of money was different. A hundred bucks used to be a lot of money.”

“Really?” she asked in an astonished voice.

“Yes, really. Anyway, Bella and I bought our first home, a little two bedroom house. I worked at the steel mill while Bella stayed home and took care of it. Emmett was the first of our children, and we fell in love with him as soon as we found out about him.”

My memory of that day flashed in my mind. It had been a long day, and when I came home there had been no dinner made. That was out of character for Bella and, worried, I began to search the house for her. It hadn’t taken long, and when I’d found her sitting on the bathroom floor crying, I’d immediately begun to panic.

“What’s wrong, Baby,” I’d asked.

She’d looked up at me with tears streaming down her flushed cheeks and said, “I’m pregnant.”

I’d been speechless at first, not sure exactly what to say or how to react. However, after a moment I began to imagine myself as a father. When that had happened, elation had rushed in, and I hadn’t been able to help but smile.

“A baby,” I’d said. She’d simply nodded. “My baby?” I’d asked.

“Our baby.”

My smile had grown impossibly larger, and I had picked her up, my arms wrapping around her waist as I spun her around, laughing. “You’re having my baby!”

“What happened then, Grandpa?” Bree’s question broke my from my reverie, and I glanced down at her, smiling.

“We had five more children; your aunts and uncles.”

Each and every time Bella had told me she was pregnant, there had been nothing but joy in my heart. However, in the back of my mind there had always a voice telling me that we were all going to end up on the streets.

There had never been a doubt in Bella’s mind, though. She would just look at me and say, “It’s all right. We’ll make it through this.”

“Was it hard?” I heard Riley ask, and I realized that I’d spaced out again.

“Very. I don’t know how many times your grandmother and I worried that we wouldn’t be able to cover all the bills. Eventually, though, I made the best decision I could have made for our family.” The three children sat intently listening to my story, so I continued on. “Once computers started to get really popular, I made the decision to leave my job at the mill and open my own shop. I didn’t know anything about computers, but I bought manuals, and through trial and error I learned how to maintain them.

“Let me tell you, kiddos, my parents and in-laws were annoyed when they found out I was doing it. They were worried that my family was going to starve. Bella’s parents told me that there was no way computers were going to catch on, that they were just a fad. Somewhere in my heart I knew they were wrong, though. So I ran the shop all by myself. It was hard. I worked a lot, and some nights I didn’t get to see the family, but I knew it was what was best for my family.

“It was the late seventies when a company known as Microsoft opened up. Eventually they began buying computer shops all over the country. Naturally, I sold my shop to them.”

“Did they pay you well, Dad?” Paul asked, a knowing smirk on his face.

My own grin spread across my face when I remembered meeting with the Microsoft execs. “They paid like crazy, son. To this day, I don’t think I’ve seen that many zeros.”

“I remember that,” Emmett said, walking over to scoop up his daughter. “Grandma and Grandpa were insanely happy,” he said to her. “They were smart about it, though. They invested a good portion of the money, and then bought a bigger house, and Grandpa retired.”

“That means he doesn’t have to work anymore, right?”

Emmett nodded, bouncing his daughter in her arms. “That’s right. Thanks to Microsoft all of us kids were able to go to great colleges, and make something of ourselves.”

“It’s nice to know we had absolutely nothing to do with that.” I heard Bella say. I looked up to see her leaning against the doorway, a huge smile and a twinkle in her eye.

“Oh, come on, Mom,” Emmett said, setting Bree on the floor. “You know you and Dad were amazing parents. If not for you guys, we wouldn’t be the people we are today.”

Bella walked over, and patted him on the shoulder before standing on her tip-toes to kiss him on the cheek. “I know, honey. I’m just teasing you.” She looked around the living room, her eyes alight with joy as she looked at our family. “All right, everyone, desert is ready!”

Our grandchildren jumped up in excitement as they ran into the dining room, followed by the women, leaving just myself and my sons sitting in the living room. Paul, Emmett, and Jasper each had a beer in hand, and I couldn’t help my little pout when I realized that I hadn’t even been offered one.

As if she read my mind, Bella appeared in the doorway with an ice cold Coors in her hand. She walked over, and handed it to me, leaning down to kiss me before she turned, and went back to the dining room. I smiled as I watched her leave, remembering just how much I’d wanted to date her when I was in high school. I don’t know how many times she turned me down before she finally relented, and let me take her on a date. Neither of us knew that we’d end up getting married, and yet, here we were, fifty-eight years later.

It was mind blowing how much I loved this woman; how much I’d always loved her.

I was pulled from my reverie by the sound of someone clearing their throat. I turned my attention toward the sound, and smiled when I saw all three of my boys staring intently at me. Emmett was the first to speak. “I love hearing you tell that story, Dad.”

Smiling, I took a long pull of my beer. “I don’t see what’s so special about it. It’s not some fanciful love story or a vampire novel. It’s just the way things went for your mother and I.”

Paul shook his head. “It’s not that. You and Mom went through hell, I remember. And I just have to ask you how you guys managed to stay so tough through it.”

I set my beer down on the table next to me, and leaned forward, my hands folded in front of me. “I couldn’t have done it without your mom. Faith and sweat helped, though.”

The boys laughed, and one by one rose to their feet, deciding they’d had enough of talking with me when there was dessert to be eaten. I stayed in the living room, my thoughts on everything I’d talked to the family about. Life had never been easy. In fact, it had been downright scary at times. We’d faced possible foreclosure more than once, and there was one winter where we didn’t have a heater because we couldn’t afford to get it fixed. Our family, our very life, had been ridiculed, because of our financial situation.

Now, here we were. All of our kids had grown up healthy, and gone to college. Some of them had spouses, and families of their own. It was amazing to think that we’d managed to come so far when it had all felt like everything was going to shit. I knew the reason though. It really had been Bella’s strength that had kept me pushing forward. Every time I got discouraged, or desperate, she managed to keep me from giving up.

She never let me forget how important it was to do my best, and keep my faith. Her wise words helped me when it felt like everything was going to swallow me whole. I could have never made it without her. She was my sunshine, the love of my life.

“What are you thinking about?” Her voice broke me out of my reverie, and I looked to see her standing in front of me with a plate in her hands.

“Strawberry cream pie, my favorite,” I said, taking the plate from her.

She smiled as I began to dig in. “I know how much you like it. I can’t ever make a holiday meal without making one for you.” I smiled up at her, offering her a bite. She shook her head. “So, what were you thinking about.”

Finishing my pie, I set the plate down, and smiled at her. I stood, wrapping my arms around her, and kissed her forehead. “I was just thinking about how amazing you are.”

She chuckled. “Still the charmer after all these years.” Her arms wove around my neck, her fingers finding their way into the back of my hair.

I shook my head, leaning down to press my forehead to hers. “What? I’m not saying anything that isn’t true. I love you, Bella.” I closed the distance, and kissed her gently, relishing in the fact that it was still just as amazing to kiss her now as it had been when we were first together.

“I love you too, Edward,” she said, pulling back to look at me with nothing, but love in her eyes.

“If you had to do it all over again, would you?” I asked.

She nodded her head. “In a heartbeat.”

I smiled, and pulled her into a hug. We’d survived some of the hardest times imaginable. There had been weeks when we hadn’t eaten so our kids could eat, and I couldn’t count the times she’d held me as I cried out of hopelessness. But, no matter how bad it been, one thing was for certain. She was my strength, my solace, and I would continue to love her like crazy until the day I breathed my last breath.