Chapter 15

Broken Hearts and Rodeo Dreams

Chapter 15

Edward

Last night was probably the worst and best night of my life. I found out I had a daughter, I also found out my entire family knew and didn't bother to tell me. I believed Bella when she told me she had tried to contact me, and I also believed Lauren was the reason of the failed contact.

I wasn't going to let my family off easy though. They should have told me. They had been there and known of all her firsts while I knew nothing. I still loved Bella, almost more so now that she had given me a child. I could see where she was coming from but then again I couldn't. She was hurt when Lauren implied that I had moved on, but maybe if she would have just kept trying.

Shaking my head, I grabbed my coffee and started my way out to the barn. Thinking like that wouldn't do any good. I had my daughter here now, I needed to work on that.

I entered the barn and went to the office. I put all my stuff down in there and headed out to grab one of the training horses. As I was coming to the indoor arena, I heard muffled voices. I was confused, because Rose and Alice wouldn't be riding. I opened the big sliding doors and stopped in my tracks.

There, riding in the arena on Sunny was my daughter, and Bella calling out to her. They hadn't noticed me yet, so I just stood there and watched.

"Jayce, lets go again, remember you gotta push him going through the barrels." Bella instructed her. Jayce nodded and pushed Sunny into a run for the first barrel. Sunny moved just as he always had, even being an old guy, but he was careful, like he just knew Jayce was on him. I watched as Jayce finished the pattern and run home. She was a natural talent on the back of a horse.

"Did ya see that momma?" She said excitedly. Bella had barely nodded before Jayce spoke again. "Momma, do you think daddy would be proud of me?" She asked softly.

"Yes baby, I know he is. He loves you just as much as I do."

"Do you think he'll teach me how to rope?" Bella looked up and noticed me standing there. She gave me a big smile before turning back to our daughter.

"Why don't you ask him?" I swung up on my horse and walked over to them. I decided to play dumb and act like I didn't hear their conversation.

"Ask me what?" Jayce turned towards me with a big smile just like Bella and loped Sunny up to me.

"Jayce!" Bella warned.

"Sorry momma." She said quietly to Bella, causing me to chuckle. "Will you teach me how to rope?"

"Sure Twister will help teach you to."

The rest of the day Jayce hung out with me and helped me with the horses. That little grew knew a lot for her age. When it was time for lunch, Bella brought pizza out to the barn for all of us. We sat down and started eating. I was on my third slice when Jayce decided to talk.

"Daddy, do you love momma?" I loved her calling me daddy, but her question almost made me choke on my pizza. I looked across from me to Bella, and my eyes locked on hers. She was still beautiful. She was about to speak up, but I beat her to it.

"Yes, I do. I love you to." I never took my eyes off Bella, letting her see that I was speaking the truth.

"Momma, do you love daddy?"

"Yes, I do." She spoke softly, never breaking the connection we were sharing.

"Good. Now let's move on." Bella finally looked at our daughter with her own questions.

"Move on? What do you mean Jayce?" I looked at our daughter to see her smiling proudly.

"Daddy hurt you. You hurt daddy. You missed each other. You love each other! It's s-i-m-p-l-e! Time to move on." She sang out. Oh how a five year old mind works, I chuckled to myself. Bella raised an eyebrow at me, which caused me to just out right laugh. I heard Jayce giggling before Bella joined in.

"We'll work on it." I said when I finally calmed down. I really did just want to move on. I mean, yeah I could be mad about how the past played out, but really what good would it do me? It would hurt my daughter in the long run. It was just time to move on and get past it.

As the weeks went on, Bella had started working around the barn and helping me with training. We had finally moved past things and had gone out on a couple of dates. Jayce was excited and kept telling us she wants a baby brother. I was all for the idea, but we still had a couple steps to do before we got to that point.

Jayce had started showing and just like Bella, she became well known. She was a natural rider and I knew she would make it far in the horse world. It also helped both her parents were some of the top horse trainers. Jayce also was pretty popular when she started school. Everyone wanted to be her friend. She was just so easy going and fun to be around.

I had started talking to my family again. I still didn't completely forgive them, but I kind of understood what was going through their heads. I just wish they would have thought things through and told me.

Charlie's house was getting kind of cramped for everyone, so I asked Bella to move in with me. She happily agreed, and I couldn't tell out of the three of us who was more excited. I think it might have been Jayce because she could be around the horses at all times. I just laughed at the energy she seemed to be stealing from Alice.

It has been two years since Bella came back into my life with Jayce. Jayce was seven and number one in youth barrel racing. Bella and I gave her everything she wanted, but she also worked for it. She wanted to go to school to be a vet, so she knew she was going to have to work for what she wanted. I couldn't have been anymore proud of her.

Tonight I was going to ask Bella to marry me. I had it all planned out. I was currently standing in the barn waiting for her to join me. Jayce was riding in the arena with Rose and Alice. When I saw Bella walk into the barn, I swear it was an angel. To me Bella would always be beautiful.

"Love, shall we?" I asked her before placing a kiss on her forehead. She nodded and fallowed behind me. I walked into the arena and smiled at Jayce. I watched as she went to the back stall before walking towards us. She was leading a pure black yearling filly. It took me awhile to find her, but she was worth the wait and the price I paid for her. Bella saw her and started walking towards her.

"Aww, aren't you just a pretty little thing." Bella cooed at her. She started rubbing on her head, when she finally came to a stop, I knew she had found the ring. "Edward, what is this?" She asked pulling the ring off the halter. I kneeled down in the dirt in the arena.

"Bella, I know we haven't had an easy time together. But I love you more then anything and want to spend the rest of my life with you. Please, do me the honor of being my wife?" When she didn't answer, I got a little scared. What if she says no? Then what would I do? "Bella?"

"Yes." She said before lunging at me, causing both of us to fall back onto the ground. I heard the filly nicker and Jayce squeal as we stood up. "Edward, who owns this filly? I might have to talk to them about buying her."

"Well you'd be talking to me. This filly belongs to Cullen Farms."

The rest of the night was with us all riding around in the arena. Alice and Bella were already talking about wedding plans, which sounded like it was going to be soon. It didn't bother me, the sooner the better.

Since the night I proposed, time has seemed to speed up. I slipped on the western suit jacked and looked in the mirror. Today, Bella would be my wife. I couldn't even begin to explain the happiness that was working its way out of me. I walked down to the barn and saw the family was there and were ready to start. Bella walked in the isle in a beautiful white dress.

We did a short ceremony, mainly just exchanging vows. Before I knew it we were announced as husband and wife. I turned towards Bella and gave her a kiss. It was short, but full of love. Our family cheered for us as we turned and faced them.

"I introduce to you for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Cullen." The preacher announced. Jayce ran up to us and gave us each a hug. Jayce grabbed mine and Bella's hand, leading us out of the barn, and towards our future.