Here's a bit of a teaser for Ch 26....hopefully it will be ready to post by Monday.....

Edward leaned across the console and pressed his lips to mine. Edward wove his fingers in my hair holding my face to him as he deepened the kiss brushing his satin tongue over my bottom lip and sliding it in my mouth as I opened to him. I moaned into his mouth as our tongues met caressing one another.
"I love you, Bella." Edward whispered against my lips as he broke our kiss.
I pressed my forehead against his and framed his face with my hands whispering my love for him.
"Come on we better get out of here before I drag you in the back seat and have my wicked way with you." Edward winked with that wicked grin on his face and opened his door.
"You keep saying these things as if I were going to complain about them, quit it with all the idle threats."
I could hear Edward's musical laugh ring out as he closed his door and I stepped out of the car myself.
Edward wrapped his arm around my waist as he joined me before we entered the house.
"You are going to be the death of me, woman," he laughed as he pressed a kiss to the side of my head.
I giggled, leaning further into Edward's embrace and tightened my arm around his waist.

So here's my WitFit entry from January 2nd. Just a warning, the following snippet contains the suggestion of domestic violence and it's briefly described. The word prompt was 'Roots' and this is what my brain came up with.....

You promised to always be here, Eric. Damn you! You promised you’d take care of me. ‘Roots, Bella, we’ll put down roots here. This will be our home and we’ll make our own history right here’, the memory of Eric’s words crashed in on Bella as she holds back the sob. The memory of when she and Eric bought their home and began their life just the two of them and their baby, of what could have been left a gaping hole in Bella’s chest.

So long ago…..seems like a lifetime already. Bella thinks as she contemplates the options available to her and her 12 year old daughter.

At thirty-two Bella has seen more trying times than she cares to remember. She was on the streets by fifteen, married by eighteen, a mother by twenty and a widower by twenty two. Eric dropped out of college when he and Bella got married because his parent’s stopped paying his tuition and turned their back on him completely. Disowning him when he married the ‘street urchin’, so Eric picked up and became a long haul truck driver. He fell asleep at the wheel on his way home from a week long haul and drove off into a ravine just outside their home in Denver, Colorado. Bella and Shaina have been on their own ever since, Eric’s parents never offered Bella or their granddaughter any assistance when their son was killed in a motor vehicle accident.

Eric was an independent driver and hired himself out to various companies. The insurance company ruled the accident driver failure and didn’t pay out. Eric’s life insurance policy only gave Bella enough money to bury him. Bella’s meager earnings from the local diner barely kept food on the table when Eric where alive, now that she was on her own there was no way she and Shaina could keep living in the home she and Eric shared. Shaina was only two at the time.

Though she’s not alone now it infinitely makes the decisions she needs to make more complicated. Bella doesn’t have just herself to think about now, she has a child, a child that she wanted to provide things she never had herself.

A stable home life was the thing she every wanted her daughter to have most. A mom and a dad and the little white picket fence in the residential neighborhood with a dog and all the friends she could keep up with.

God knows, Shaina, has enough to deal with. All she needs is a little bit of normal.

Bella was sure she found that with Mike. He was a good guy, so she thought. Mike Newton provided the illusion of the roots Bella craved for herself and her daughter. When she met mike five years ago he was the answer to prayers Bella had been sending out to a God she wasn’t sure existed any more. Mike’s family connections ran deep in the little town outside of Jackson Hole Wyoming. His parents ran an outfitting company and supplied tourists with the required equipment for everything from Skiing to hunting and fishing. The Newton’s were well known in the community and for all intents and purposes they were well liked and respected. The problems were underneath the façade, behind closed doors the Newton men were overbearing and ruled their house hold with an iron fist.

Unfortunately for Bella and Shaina this was a well guarded secret. By the time it was apparent Bella and Mike were married and starting what she thought was the fairytale ending to the hell her life had been up to that point.

Roots. Bella thinks to herself as she picks the broken glass up from the marble floor, the shattered remnants of the vase she dropped when Mike’s hand connected with her face, all over the entrance of her home. A home she thought would provide what she wanted for her and her daughter. The metallic taste of blood on her tongue and the sting from the cuts on her hand the reminder of yet another time she has disappointed her husband.

I only wanted roots for Shaina. I wanted something better for her. At least she wasn’t home this time. Bella’s mind is in a thousand different directions all at once.

We can live like this anymore. I’ve got to get Shaina out of this house. I’ve got to get out of this house before he kills me.

The barking of Shaina’s little feist dog alerts Bella to her arrival. Bella had gotten the dog for Shaina as a birthday gift just a few months ago. The beating she took that night for going against Mike’s instructions about not getting a dog was one of the worst. But because the neighbors had been there and seen the dog Mike couldn’t get rid of it without notice.

Shaina kept the dog locked in her room every night for fear that Mike would harm it when she was asleep. Bella knew that the only thing Mike liked to hit was her and figured the dog was pretty safe at the present time.

‘Mom?’ Shaina called as she entered through the back door followed closely by the yipping puppy. ‘Mom?’

‘In here, Shaina,’ Bella called out as she dumped the pan of sweepings into the trash bag tying it off to take out to the curb.

‘Mom, you’re never going to believe what ha-‘ Shaina’s words stopped abruptly as she took in Bella’s stance.

Bella stood with her back to her daughter. Truly afraid to turn around and face the little girl who she loved with all her heart.

‘Mom?’ Shaina was hesitant as to how to approach her mother. She was sure she knew what had happened, that her step-father had hit her again.

‘It’s alright, Shaina. Just go on and take Jesse up to your room and get started on your homework, okay? I’m going to take this out to the curb and get dinner started.’ Bella didn’t turn around but made her way to the front door. ‘Go on now, honey.’

Shaina opened and closed her mouth several times before she bent to pick up Jesse and carry him up the stairs to her room. She was so angry she could feel the tears of frustration burning in her eyes. She didn’t understand why her mother took that from Mike. She didn’t understand how Mike could do that to her mother. Shaina wiped angrily at the tears as they fell down her cheeks. The little feist puppy squirmed and licked at her cheeks causing her to giggle despite herself.

Roots. That’s what her mother had told her as to why they were moving yet again. When her mother explained that she was marrying Mike that’s how she explained it, they would have roots, a place to call home, a place to feel safe. But all Shaina felt was anger, hurt and confusion. Her chest tightened with the anxiety and she reached for the inhaler on her desk shaking it before taking a quick shot of the medication that would make her breathing easier.

So as I said in my Opening night post I'm doing the WitFit writers challenge so I'm posting the writing I submitted for today. I'll be going back and posting the ones done since January 1st soon. But here ya go....

“Judas priest, woman, what are you doing out here?” Edward fussed as I crossed the arena to where he stood. “I thought you had an appointment today. Why aren’t you on your way to the doctor?”

The horse he had on the lunge line kicking up the sand under his hooves as she circled and came to a complete stop at Edward’s silent command.

“Um….my appointment isn’t until noon. I was just about to head out but I wanted to come tell you I was leaving. “

Edward had been acting…..off for the last couple days. I knew he was up to something and I had a sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with my birthday tomorrow.

“Did you want to go with me?” I knew we had already discussed this and Edward had informed me he couldn’t because Jasper was bringing out a few yearlings for him to look over. At least that’s what he said but I was pretty sure that he had something else up his sleeve, I just couldn’t quite figure out what it was.

“Oh….Um….yeah, I do but...uh, you know, Jasper’s coming over in,” he checks his watch. “About twenty minutes. And I still need to uh…yeah, I gotta run over the arena here with the box scrape before he gets here.” Edward stammered over the excuses he had given me just last night as to why he wasn’t going to go with me today.

“Umhmm….what are you up to Edward?” I quirked an eyebrow at him and crossed my arms over my chest.

Edward was never one at a loss for words or one to stutter and splutter over answering a question except when he knew I had him dead to rights in a lie. Then he became Porky Pig with the stuttering and his eyes would crinkle ever so slightly at the edges when he tried to pull out the smile he knew melted my heart.

“What are you talking about?” he asked innocently as he turned his back to me and hooked the short line on Cisco’s halter so he could lead her back to the barn.

“I’m talking about you being up to something. I just haven’t figured out what it is yet.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m not up to anything,” he assured me as he led Cisco into her stall. He grabbed the shovel he had left just inside the door earlier before stepping back out and setting the latch.

I stood there, arms crossed, glaring at him trying to hold a stern look on my face and working hard not to grin. I wasn’t about to believe a word coming out of those perfect lips.

“Umhmm, yeah try again, mister. I don’t believe a word coming out of your mouth.”

Edward placed a hand over his heart, “Oh, you’re breakin’ my heart, baby. How can you not believe me? Me, your one true love, the love of your life.”

I snorted but couldn’t stop the giggle that escaped me at this beautiful ridiculous man.

“Well, my dear husband, I can tell you exactly why I don’t believe what you’re selling. I know you better than anyone and I know you’re up to something. And I know that your brother is in cahoots with whatever plan you have cooked up. I don’t know what it is but I know you’re up to something.”

Edward propped the shovel against the wall and closed the distance between us placing his hands on my ever expanding waist.

“Aw, Bella, really? You hurt me deeply talking like that,” he whispered against my lips before he pressed his to mine. Edward pulled back chuckling wearing that devastating smile on his face.

“What?” I asked more than a bit breathlessly.

“I think we need to pick a different color for the nursery.” Edward bent to place a kiss against my rounded belly before continuing.

“Because I definitely think this baby is a boy and yellow isn’t exactly a masculine color, Bella. This baby is going to be a football star one day with kicks like that.”

Edward laughed as the little stinker playing soccer with my insides seemed to take his words as a challenge.

My cell phone rang just then and I struggled to get it out of my purse. I could already hear Alice’s frantic voice before I even said a word.

“Omigod, Edward, the caterer just called and they can’t have the food ready until four and I told them that was just completely unacceptable.”

Alice had evidently dialed my number in her flustered state and not Edward’s but trying to get her to take a breath long enough to make that clear to her was near impossible. And by the look on Edward’s face when he realized Alice was on the line this was obviously part of whatever scheme he had been laying

“Um, Alice,” I tried.

“And so they said that they could possibly have it there by one but that was as good as they could do. I just don’t know what to do at this point-”

“Alice!”

“Bella? Why are you answering Edward’s phone?”

“I’m not. You dialed my phone, Alice. So what’s this about caterers and why would you be calling Edward about caterers in the first place?”

“Oh, crap…..well I guess the cat’s out of the bag now.”

Opening Night

Welcome to The Playhouse. I've decided to start an authors blog. I guess I'm jumping on the band wagon and following behind some of the other authors in the fandom who have their own personal blog. So here it is. This is the first of what I hope will be many posts to come. Although my first venture into the ficdom is coming to a close I do have other ideas brewing in the devious little mind which I call my own. And so I will be posting information about those stories, teasers and such here on the blog. I'm also participating in the WitFit author daily writing which you can see on the Fictionista's blog but I will begin posting my daily entries here as well. They're just drabbles, some are relevant to story lines which I will pursue in the future some are just....me spewing out whatever pops in my head with the given prompt.

Anyway, welcome to The Playhouse and thank you for visiting. Hope you check back with me to see what craziness is being espoused here.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo
bellasunderstudy.