Chapter 23. Suck It Up and Face Your Fears

There's an old saying that goes like this: "What can't be cured, must be
endured." Well screw that, I believe everything that's worth loving is
worth curing.

The Protective Father's POV

I was about ten minutes into Leno when the door swung open and I whipped
around, grabbin' my gun off of the end table in the process, when I stopped
abruptly, realizing who it was.
My eyes widened a little as my eyebrows moved an inch or two further up.
This couldn't be good.
"Bella?"
"Daddy," she immediately started cryin', like she'd been holdin' it in for days.
Then she dropped her bags and ran for me, wrapping her arms around my
neck, holdin' on for dear life.
"W…what are you doin' here baby cakes?" I asked her, holding on to her
tightly. I hadn't seen her in at least a year and hadn't heard from her in a good
six months, it was late and she looked awful, but I wasn't about to tell her that.
More crying.
I was never good with the tears.
"Honey?" I asked, cautiously.
She didn't answer me…she didn't wanna talk, she just needed to let it out.
And who was I kidding anyway? I was just glad to see her.
I also swore to god, as I held her there in the foyer, that if I found out that
James asshole had hurt her again, I wasn't stayin' out of it this time.
I was pretty sure I could get off easy for accidentally droppin' the guy who'd
broken my little girl's heart off of a bridge or somethin'.
I knew people.
Shoving those thoughts from my mind, I moved her to the couch, shoving my
newspapers off of it and out of the way. We sat there in silence for about thirty
minutes before she finally too a deep breath, got up and smoothed her outfit
out.
"Sorry, dad, I…" She couldn't finish the sentence, she looked like she was
trying to swallow a golf ball.
"That guy cheat on you again, Bells? I knew you shouldn't of taken him
back..."
I had to ask it, I wasn't about to stand by and…
"No, dad…" she said sadly, not quite looking me in the eyes. "Not that guy…"
Oh man, not another one.
I grimaced because, hell, that's what I do, I grimace and worry.
She didn't let me ask anything else as she turned and picked her bags up and
started up the stairs to her old bedroom.
"I'll uh…be right here if ya need me, honey," I said as she disappeared and
then I rubbed my hand over my old scruffy beard and went to the fridge for a
beer, 'cause…I had a feeling I was gonna need it.
Early the next morning, Bella wasn't in her bed when I got up and went to go
check on her.
Her bed was made like she hadn't even slept in it all night and she'd left some
breakfast for me on the kitchen table, just like she used to. I had to smile at
how right at home she could make herself, no matter how long she'd been
away.
I also happened to notice, she'd left her cell phone sitting on the kitchen table.
I'm a retired cop, my investigative instincts kicked in and I nonchalantly flipped
the phone on and checked her recent calls.
None.
Not since the night before anyway.
Interesting.
I set it back down and got myself some coffee and as I was taking my first sip,
I found Bella.
She was out in the back of the house, sittin' on our old tire swing, lookin' all
kinds of sad and hurt but I knew she wasn't gonna talk about it until she was
ready.
That didn't stop fantasies of puttin' a hurtin' on some jerk for makin' my baby
cry running through my head, though.
I was frustrated as all get out because hell, I didn't know what I was supposed
to do, or say, or…
Shit.
Her cell phone buzzed and I looked at it, then out the window at Bella again,
then at the cell phone.
I picked it up.
The name showing up on the screen said, "Kuhmasen" and I wondered,
absentmindedly, if that was some kinda Indian name or something.
It was a text from him and being the responsible father that I was, I read it.
Listen, don't judge, my baby girl was crying and depressed and I needed all
the information I could get to help her.
The text said, "Bella, it's not what you think. I promise. PS. I miss you."
I cocked an eyebrow at it because how many times had I heard that before?
"It's not what she thinks, huh?" I asked the phone and then set it back down
onto the table, huffing through my nose in disgust at the lame line.
I finished my coffee and rinsed the cup out, then made sure to keep an eye on
my little girl throughout the day. She only checked her phone when she
happened to come back inside for lunch a few hours later and I watched her
reaction closely.
She looked at the text, then silently sat the phone back down.
Nothin'.
Hmmmm.
"I'll be back later, dad," she'd said and then borrowed her old truck that was
still settin' in the front drive from when she'd left home to go find herself and
her new career in New York all those years ago.
I found it odd that she wasn't checkin' in with work and wondered if she'd lost
her new show, or left on her own, or what, when the phone went off again.
Another text.
From that same Indian dude.
"Rose says you went home, I hope you come back, call me. PS. I miss you."
I huffed some air through my nose at the guy yet again.
I mean, there's no apology, no regret for anything, just…wants her back.
"Typical," I said, but then there was another one, not, two minutes after that.
"P.S.S. I should have followed you last night."
"Pushy little shit, aren't ya?" I asked and then went into the living room to
watch a game and wait for Bells to come home.
Throughout the game, Bella's phone went off several more times and you'd of
thought I was playin' a drinking game with it because for every text that
arrived, an empty beer can was set on the coffee table.
I ended up just leaving the damn thing sitting next to me as I caught the post
game and interviews.
"I'm Billy Elliot this week, he's singing for you tonight. PS. I miss you."
"Who in the hell is Billy Elliot?" I wondered out loud.
"I left you a present in your apartment today. PS. I miss you."
I scowled…what was this guy breaking and entering now?
Now THAT I knew I could arrest him for…or, at least get someone in New
York to arrest him for it.
When Bella came home that night after being…who knows where, she
checked her phone, smiled a little, but then just looked sad all over again.
She gave me a kiss and started upstairs.
"Bells, wait," I said to her but she stopped me. "Dad, I really can't…not right
now, okay?"
"This guy stalkin' you, Bells?"
She actually laughed out loud at my question and told me, "Hardly," but then
didn't give me anything else, she just, disappeared up the stairs and I didn't
hear from her till breakfast the next morning.
Just as we were finishing up eating our eggs, the door bell rang and Bella
answered it.
I sneeked a peek at her phone and noticed several new texts on it.
They were unread.
"Drinking with Emmett tonight. Not hearing from you is killing me. PS. I miss
you," said the first one and I shook my head at this guy…drinking never
settled anything but goddamn if I wasn't craving one about then, myself.
I stopped, mid stride on my way to the fridge when Bells came back into the
kitchen, she held a bag of what seemed like at LEAST five dozen bagels and
a note was in her free hand.
She read it as she lay the bag of bread onto the counter, then set the note
down next to them and said she was going to take a shower.
I read the note.
"You can throw bagels at me anytime you feel the need. PS, I miss you."
This guy had serious issues.
I mean, who wants bagels thrown at them?
Bells was still upstairs when the door bell rang again.
"Uh…" I said, momentarily silenced as I took in the guy dressed as a green
Ogre at my door.
"Bells!" I called up to her. "I think this is for you!"
She came to the stairs and stopped short when she saw the guy, who sang a
telegram to her that ended in, you guessed it, "PS. I miss you."
I tipped the guy and closed the door, watching tears well up in my daughter's
eyes.
There were a few more deliveries throughout the day, including a cooler with
stacks and stacks of chocolate pudding on dry ice and she went through at
least half of it in one sitting.
Her phone buzzed a lot, but she didn't answer it except to talk to her agent for
a little while, then she left to go into town and get a fax from the station.
She said it was just her lines for the show this week so I had to assume that
she was planning on going back at some point.
Still no talking though, and when she came back, she once again disappeared
up the stairs and into her old bedroom.
It was an early night for both of us.
An iPod arrived the following day, it only had one song on it with a note that
said, "I meant it when I said I'd walk a thousand miles Bella, as soon as I map
out where exactly you are, I'll start. PS. I miss you."
Another text while she was outside again, sitting herself into the tire swing
again, just, thinking.
"I'm outside your apartment building missing you. Felix physically removed me
from the premesis. He says hi by the way. PS. I miss you."
Annoyingly persistent, I thought, but hell, he honestly wasn't striking me like
he was trying to hurt Bella, that's for sure…Indian or not.
Then I did somethin' I knew I shouldn't be doing, but it was for the best.
I picked up the phone and texted the guy back.
"She's comin home."
…
Before my baby girl had a chance to crypt herself away for the night again, I
stopped her at the bottom of the stairs.
"Bells, we need to talk, hon."
She bit her bottom lip like she thought she was in trouble or something, just
like she did when she was little and I smiled down at her, putting a hand on
her shoulder.
"Come sit on the couch with me."
She followed me over quietly and did just that.
"What happened Bells? And don't give me that…you don't wanna talk about it
crap, I'm your father, I need to know these things."
She let herself fall all the way back into the couch and breathed out, then told
me her story.
From the moment she'd met this guy, to the moment she'd walked into my
house the other night.
And something just wasn't adding up.
"Do you know for sure he was…" I cleared my throat a little. "...messin' around
with this woman? I mean, these texts don't sound to me like a guy doesn't
care, or...who's tryin' to hurt ya, Bells, they sound like a guy who's head over
heels in love with ya."
She seemed to flinch away from the last of my words and then looked at me,
narrowing her eyes.
"You read my texts?" she asked, but she was only teasin', she knew how I
was.
"Kinda hard to ignore them when the thing is buzzin' every half hour on the
hour."
She laughed a little.
"Bells, what are ya hidin' from honey?"
"I don't know, dad..." and with that, she started tearin' up again. "I….I just can't
live through that hurt again. I can't. And it's worse with Edward, he's…"
She clutched at her heart and I knew.
I'd felt the same was with her mom, and when I lost her, it was like I'd lost my
other half.
I put a hand on her shoulder once again and rubbed her arms. Then I told my
little girl, "Just cause things look one way, doesn't mean that's how they are,
Bells."
"But dad, he…"
"You can't assume every guy you fall for is gonna be like that jack ass of a
man who didn't know what he had when he had it, honey."
She looked at me with heart ache.
"What's your gut tellin' ya?"
She looked down a little and then at her cell phone, and the iPod, and the
bagels, and the empty pudding containers.
"It's telling me I might love him."
I laughed. "Well then I think you owe it to yourself and him to try and figure
this out…and I know, I know, life in the public eye isn't easy, hell I'm no movie
star, but I was chief of police for a long damn time and whenever your mother
and I got to fightin everyone knew about it, but you know what kept us
together?"
Bella shook her head.
"Love."
She wiped some tears away and I figured I'd better wrap up before the water
works really started pouring out…I only had one more thing to say on the
subject, anyway.
I knew when she'd taken to acting, that with that type of work, things like what
was happening to her would crop up every so often.
She knew it too, to an extent, she just needed to be reminded sometimes that
there really were good people out there, she just needed to keep an eye out
for them.
"Gotta learn to live with what you are, kid. Once you do that, everything else
will work out. Trust me."
Realization glimmered in my girl's eyes and even though the tears were
flowing now, she finally resembled the girl I knew.
"Oh my god...Dad," she said, and it was the first time since she'd gotten there
that I saw my Bells. She knew what she wanted again, and she was going off
to get it.
"Let me know how it works out, sweetie," I said to her and she left.
No warning, no packing, she just grabbed her purse and that iPod he'd sent
her and…left.
And I knew she was gonna be okay.