Chapter 23

Bella began to rely on Blake for so much, he was always there for her, when she had trouble at school, he helped her figure out the most difficult of math problems.  If it was drama with her friends, he was a willing ear to listen to her rant and cry.  They had hours of fun together when he wasn't busy studying for his own Medical school entrance exams.

Things seemed to be working out well for Blake, which is why it confused Elijah so much when he announced out of the blue that he was moving into his own place.  Not that Elijah didn't understand, a boy has to move out to become a man, but it seemed so sudden.

 It wasn't just the move that bothered him, Bella seemed to have withdrawn from her brother, he rarely ever saw the two of them together anymore, and when they were in the same room the tension could be cut with a knife.  Bella's grades also began slipping, she skipped school several times, and rarely was up in time to catch the bus, when she was home she could frequently be found sleeping in her bed.  Her teachers called worried about her lack of interest in class.  Something was wrong, but for the life of him Elijah couldn't figure out what it was.

It had been two months since Blake had moved out, and Bella's attitude hadn't improved much, she spent most of her time alone in her room, or outside just sitting.  He watched his little girl and could see so much pain in her eyes, but try as he might she wouldn't tell him what was causing it.  He also noticed physical evidence of her pain, she had begun to gain weight, he knew that some people coped with depression by eating, and this was obviously what his baby was doing.

"Elijah, I think we need to talk to Bella, I don't think she's overeating, I've been watching her, and well I've been there enough times to know pregnant when I see it, and she's pregnant Elijah!"  Elijah looked up from the newspaper he was reading, "Bella?  There is no way she could be pregnant Paris, I've never even heard her mention a boy, and she definitely hasn't been hanging around with any."

Paris sighed, sometimes her husband could be so naive when it came to teenagers, he truly believe that Faith had forgot what time it was and had been the victim of happenstance when she had been brought in by police for breaking curfew and pulling pranks on the neighbors.

Elijah slowly got out of his chair, strolling over to his wife, he didn't like the frown she was wearing as she continued, "I'm telling you Elijah that is not chunk from overeating, I don't know how it happened, but she is pregnant, and that would explain her mood swings, and the oversleeping she has been doing. We need to get the truth out of her, one way or another.  I made her an appointment with the doctor's office, but I thought we should talk with her first."

Paris and Elijah sat at the kitchen table, Elijah watched his daughter, and the realization dawned on him, his wife was right, that was not a chunky belly at all! " Bella, whose the father of the baby?"   Bella looked over at her parents, she knew how much they loved her, but she just couldn't tell them.

"I.. I don't know"
Elijah started sputtering, his face turning several shades of red, Paris jumped in before her dear husband exploded  "Don't know or don't want us to know Bella?  Don't know implies there are several candidates, in which case we should know who the potential fathers are, don't want us to know, well that's something entirely different."

"It doesn't matter, it's done, and who cares who the father is, it's not like he is going to do anything about it anyways!"  Paris could see the tears welling up in her daughter's eyes, as she spoke, and she knew they were about to spill over, and with it, might come the whole truth.

"It matters Bella, because who ever helped you get this way, should help you through the rest of it all.  If he doesn't want to be there physically the least he can do is pay child support.  Who is it sweetie, why won't you tell us?"

Bella jumped out of her chair, tears spilling down her cheeks, " You would never believe me, even if I did tell you!  Just leave me alone both of you!"  Her parents watched as she ran out of the kitchen, Elijah slowly stood up from the table, anger etched around his mouth, his eyes hard and cold.  " I think I know why  Blake left, and I hope to God I am wrong!"

"Bella, I think I know what happened, or at least some of what might have happened.  I promise I will believe you, just tell me baby girl, tell me how this happened."  Elijah stood in her bedroom door, watching her lying on the bed curled up in a ball crying.  She sniffled a bit and wiped her nose with the back of her hand, eyes rimmed red, her nose and lips swollen from the crying.  " I just can't Daddy, I just don't want to think about it ok?"  He sat down on the bed next to her, "No sweetie it's not ok, we have to deal with this, shoving it down isn't going to make anything better, it will just make it worse in the end."

Slowly the sobs subsided as his daughter tried to form the words she didn't want to say, " I was showering the first time, and I turned and he was standing there watching me, I yelled at him to get out.  He didn't, Daddy, he got in the shower with me and I swear I told him no, but he said he loved me and I love him and it was time for him to make me a woman, and I couldn't do anything! I'm so sorry, so very very sorry, I didn't know what to do!"

Elijah was seeing red, he wanted to strangle his own son right at that moment, instead he stroked his daughter's head encouraging her to continue. " He kept doing it after that, sometimes he would come into the bedroom after you and Mama went to bed, and sometimes he would follow me in the shower, I tried to take showers when he wasn't home so he couldn't, but then he just got mad at me!

When I started feeling sick all the time and tired I told him, he asked me about my period and I told him I hadn't had one that month, then he had me take a test.  He left after that.  I know he's my brother daddy, but I'm glad he isn't here anymore, and I don't ever want to see him again in my life! He said if I told you guys it was him you wouldn't believe me and you would kick me out, I swear I'm telling the truth Daddy, and I don't want to leave, you have to believe me!"

Elijah slowly stood up, his world was spinning out of control, how could his own flesh and blood do something so despicable, and what was he suppose to do about it now.  "I believe you Bella, I know you aren't lying, and promise me something my Bella, never ever keep something like this from us again, we love you and want to protect you, I'm sorry we failed to do that.  You have to know none of this was your fault honey, this isn't the way big brothers are suppose to act. You don't have to keep the baby Bella, if it's too hard for you, but if you want to keep it, we will help you, you don't have to do it alone."

He held her in a hug for the longest time after their talk, she didn't want to press charges on Blake, despite his encouragement, she just didn't want to have to go through all of that and so they decided they would just leave it at that.  She was keeping the baby, she wasn't happy about it, but didn't think she could let someone else raise it either.  He wanted to take it all away from her, all the pain that had been caused her, he wanted to make it disappear, no 16 year old should go through what she was going through.  It wasn't fair.  In the end he had to settle with making a visit to his son.

Elijah stood in Blake's living room, reliving his marriage to Blake's mother, the sweet angel she had been, his son's birth and the dark days that had followed it.  He wondered if it had been his fault Blake had done this, replaying over and over what he could have done different.  "We know about you and Bella, Blake, we know that baby is yours.  What do you have to say for yourself how could you have done this to her, your own sister?"

" What did she tell you dad?  What are you talking about?"  Blake paced around nervous as a cat in a cage,
" Son, don't play dumb, a simple DNA test will prove it, and if we go that route, you're going to jail. I just want to try to understand why this happened, what on earth made this seem ok to you?"

Blake rubbed his hand over his hair, " I don't owe you an explanation, she came on to me, and it had been a long time and well things just got out of hand Dad, she wanted it too, I know it was wrong, and disgusting, but it's not like I raped her!"

He punched his own son, he walked out of Blake's home, in a daze, as soon as Blake had finished declaring it wasn't rape, his fist had taken on a life of it's own and he had punched him, laid him out cold.  He left him a note, told him he would always love him as he was his first born son, but until he was willing to admit the entire truth of what happened, and get therapy, he was no longer welcome in their home.  Walking out of the house, leaving his first born behind like that, Elijah thought it was the hardest thing he had ever done.  He was wrong.

"Just push a little more baby, it's almost over, it's almost all over!"  Elijah stood beside his little girl and watched her going through agony as she pushed his first grandchild out into the world.

The previous months had been hard, Blake had woke up and called home, yelling that he had it all wrong, that they shouldn't trust what they were being told.  For a moment Elijah had really wanted to believe him, then he thought of those weeks and months, of Bella's behavior and the sadness he had seen in her eyes, and he hung up the phone.

The pregnancy hadn't been easy on his daughter, morning sickness had come, not in the first trimester like it was suppose to, it came throughout the second and third trimesters, and it didn't stop in the morning, she was sick morning, noon, and night.  The weight of the baby caused her discomfort, and the stress of school was almost too much for her to take.  They tried to help as much as possible, but never in his life had Elijah felt so completely helpless, except maybe now.

His daughter bore down again, silent tears streaking from her bloodshot, red rimmed eyes, he watched the doctor quietly picking up the scalpel and knew that she wasn't going to like what was about to happen, he was wrong, she didn't even notice the cut, but during the next push as the head once again tried to make it's way out, she screamed as the cut became a tear allowing her baby to finally fully crown.

She had worked and suffered so much to bring the baby into the world, her labor had been slow, and she had refused any kind of pain medication, she said she had read it was dangerous for the baby and for her, he had wanted to beg her to take something, every time a contraction ripped through her and reduced her to moans of pain, tears streaming down her face.  It wasn't fair, she hadn't asked for this, she didn't deserve this.

"One more push Bella, and you'll be a mommy!"  The doctor had been fantastic, they had explained to him what had happened, and he had been supportive and kind to her from there on out. Bella pushed, he didn't know how his tiny girl had it in her, but she did it, she pushed and her baby came spilling into the world.  She was a mother, and he was a grandpa!

Chapter 22

Paris was only eight months along when her water broke, she woke in the middle of the night to , asharp pain followed by a gush of fluid and blood, thirty minutes later, on the way to the hospital, their baby girl came into the world.

Bella was too small, barely four pounds, and she didn't do well breathing on her own. She would have to stay for awhile in NICU. There she was hooked up to all sorts of machines, machines to monitor her, machines that helped her breathe, machines that gave her medicines to make her strong.
It broke Elijah's heart to watch Paris sitting beside the incubator watching their little baby, praying that she would be well and able to come home soon.

The prayers worked and two painful weeks later Paris and Elijah proudly carried tiny Bella into her nursery. It had been a long journey, those two weeks, the first days were like a roller coaster ride, one minute she was doing fine and the next alarms were sounding and nurses were surrounding her little incubator.  There had been days when they wondered if they would ever lay their little angel in a real crib.

Elijah had worked hard while Paris was in the hospital, pulling out some of the baby stuff in his family's storage room and repainting it, making a special nursery for his special daughter.

Bella thrived under the watchful eye of her mother, Elijah, and her big brothers.  She was never without someone to give her all the love any baby could ever desire.

It seemed but a blink of the eye and she was toddling around the house, the boys fought over the chance to make their baby sister laugh.  Life was everything Elijah had dreamed it would be, the pain of his loss had faded and the joy of his family overflowed in the laughter heard throughout the home.

Life stayed ideal for Elijah and his family, the children grew as children do and soon Blake entered into high school.  "Mom, Dad, we need to talk."  Elijah slowly sat down at the table where his son and wife were already sitting and waited to for the shoe to finally drop.  Life had been too easy the last years, he knew it couldn't last forever.  "What is it, Son?"  Blake looked at his parents, and slowly began.  "It's about school, I'm not saying the public school isn't good, but Dad some people approached me about a boarding school, with my straight A's they said I was a shoe in, and probably would even qualify for some scholarships to help pay the costs.  I really want to go, they have all these programs that help prepare you for college, and they are one of the top rated Private Boarding schools in the Nation!"

Paris looked over at her husband and smiled, "You can make the call on this one dear, I really don't see any reason not to let him go, except that we will miss him an awful lot!" Elijah stood up, and looked down at his son, who had begun pacing the kitchen as his parents had quietly discussed the matter between them.
" You can go son, on two conditions, you stay out of trouble, all trouble, and you keep a 3.5 grade point average.  If you can't do those things then you will have to come home to finish your education."

Blake was all grins as he hugged his dad, "Not a problem Dad, thank you both so much, you don't know how much it means to me!"  He ran out of the room crowing to his brother about leaving home for the big world, and Elijah sighed, "I suppose if we do it for Blake, we will have to do it for the rest of them too.  I'm not sure I'm ready for our kids to leave home, Paris!"  Paris tried to hide the tears as she turned back to fixing dinner, she knew she wasn't ready to let go yet.

Two years later they began preparations to send Dawson off to boarding school, as well, he desired a Military school, which surprised both his parents, and frightened Paris a bit when he announced he intended to join as soon as he graduated high school.  She was proud of her son for wanting to give back to his country, but the thought of one of her children at war kept her awake at nights.  She spent those last summer days with him as much as possible.  

A few months before Paris and Elijah received a very unexpected surprise, they were having another baby.  The pregnancy went smoothly despite their fears of delivering preterm again, and during one of her summer fishing days with Dawson the new baby decided it was time to come into the world.

The delivery was quick and Paris was released the next day, free to bring little Faith home to her family.  Dawson had left before they arrived home.  It tore out Paris' heart that she missed wishing him farewell, but a quick call confirmed that he had arrived home safely.

Paris hadn't been prepared to enter into the world of diaper changes and late night feedings, but soon neither her nor Elijah could imagine a life without Faith in it.  They knew their family was complete, and Paris had undergone surgery to make sure there were no more surprises in store for them.

Bella was growing quickly as well and was soon heading off to school, though she pleaded to go to boarding school like her big brothers her parents insisted she was much to young to be away from them for so long, and so she compromised by joining ballet classes, nothing was quite so cute as to watch her Plies in her little tutu!

Bella was just thirteen years old when Blake returned home for good from Boarding school, his little sister couldn't have been happier to have her big brother back home, she had always been so close to both her brothers.  Soon it seemed the two were inseparable again.  Blake had begun college classes, but decided to study at the local Campus so he could save money by living at home, he was determined to become a surgeon.

Chapter 21

She woke up dazed and a bit confused, but as everything came into focus she realized where she was, this couldn't be happening!  "What is going on Elijah? Why am I here?"

 Elijah looked down at her and smiled, "Because we are getting married and here is where you belong!"  She jumped out of bed and almost collapsed as the room began to spin, "You're crazy, you kicked me out Elijah, you threw me out because we slept together, and now, now what, because you want to do right by your son you are throwing me a bone?"

Elijah walked over and swept Paris into his arms, "No Paris, we are getting married because I love you and don't want to spend another day without you here, and I think you feel the same way.  These months without you have been hell for everyone in this house, you belong here Paris.  I was scared and stupid and I hope someday you will find it in your heart to forgive me for what I have put you through. You don't have to say yes, yet. I'll wait, but please stay here with us."

She couldn't say yes, she wanted to, but something held her back, it was all too much.  In the end she agreed to move back in and she knew in her heart that she would forgive him. She just needed a little time to breath first.

Two short years  later she was meeting her groom for their little park wedding.  Blake and Dawson were there of course, unfortunately Elijah's father could only be there in spirit, he passed away just 4 months before the wedding.  She missed the old man, she enjoyed his company, and in every way she wouldn't be there if it hadn't been for him, didn't seem right that he wasn't there. They had bought the land and built the park in his memory, donating it to the city.

Elijah gazed into his bride's eyes, sparkling with un-shed tears, hearing the murmurs of family and friends gathered around them. It was  a far cry from his last wedding when they had run off secretly to say their vows.

  As they said the vows they each wrote for one another there didn't seem to be a dry eye in the park.   The day was beautiful, neither Elijah nor his new bride, Paris could ask for anymore, so they were shocked when they received a surprise honeymoon to Paris, France as a wedding gift from Elijah's siblings.    His siblings seemed to think that a girl conceived in Paris, named after Paris, should spend at least a few days in Paris!

They arrived in Paris two days after their marriage, after so long travelling he didn't know how he would have the energy for their wedding night, but he had every intention of finding it!  She came out of their hotel bathroom wearing nothing but her corset, and he knew right then, adrenaline was most definitely his friend!  As he lay her down on the bed, he looked down at her, amazed that she was really his, and amazed that he had almost thrown such an amazing woman away!

He loved watching her as they toured through her namesake city, the Museum delighted her, and he couldn't help smiling as her child like enthusiasm for each piece of art work bubbled out of her.

They tried to do it all while they were there, museums, wineries, outdoor cafe's.  If it was a popular cliche for Paris they made a point of doing it.  They both fell in love with the cuisine, he found, much to his surprise, he even loved frog legs when it was cooked in Paris!



He took her shopping for souvenirs, both of them making sure they had something special to give the boys when they returned home.

Two weeks into their stay things took a turn for the worse, Paris began feeling ill, and soon it seemed she couldn't hold anything down.  They ended up in a French hospital and there they found they were going to become parents again.  Neither of them could think of a better ending to their honeymoon!