Living Royal

Chapter Twenty Two

Living Royal

Chapter Twenty-Two

Bella gradually recovered from her bout of pneumonia with Edward and Dr Webber's help. Dr Webber had made several more visits to the couple's home in order to check on Bella and make sure that the medications that he had prescribed left no side effects. 

Alice helped Bella catch up with her class work when she felt strong enough to be able to study without feeling too weak or dizzy. Exams were coming up and Bella needed to cram and cram hard if she was going to keep up her good grades. Luckily for her, Edward was an excellent tutor.

Edward stayed with her the first couple of days of her illness, but Bella had insisted that he should not miss any classes because of her. He left her reluctantly for a few hours each day but only if Alice or Jasper stayed with her in case she needed anything. Bella thought it wasn’t unnecessary but Edward had given her no choice, so all she could do was grumble and scowl in silence.

"So did you think about what I said?" Alice asked during one of her 'babysitting' days, as Bella called it. They were sprawled across the bed with several text books strewn on it in front of them.

Only two people other than Bella and Edward knew about their engagement; Alice and Queen Esme. Esme wanted to tell Carlisle but Edward had thankfully convinced her to wait. Alice on the other hand wanted them to tell everyone so they could refute Jacob's claims in the press that Bella was dating Edward to get over him.

How delusional could one guy be?

"Um, no not yet." Bella replied.

"Bella!" Alice whined, "Come on, you know that it's a brilliant idea. It's like killing two birds with one stone."

"I don't know, Alice. I have to talk to Edward first. We agreed to keep it a secret for a while because it’s a lot easier this way. The media's already been going crazy since we started officially dating; imagine what they'll do when we announce that we're engaged." Bella paled at the thought.

"You're just gonna have to trust me, Bella. I have a good feeling about this." Alice replied confidently.

Bella had to admit that whenever Alice had a feeling, it usually ended up being right on the mark.

"I still have to talk to Edward first." Bella somewhat conceded.

Bella did broach the subject with Edward when he came back home from the University that afternoon. He was hesitant at first, but eventually admitted that it might actually be a good idea. He just wanted to wait a couple more months before doing it. Bella agreed, she wasn't ready for the media onslaught she knew would happen as soon as they made the announcement.

During the next few days Bella began to get restless from staying at home all the time. She eventually convinced Edward to let her go out with Alice for a while. He only let her out after dressing her in layer after layer of warm clothing. She would’ve object to being treated like a child if it weren't so damn cute how much he worried about her.

Alice picked Bella up and they headed to the nearest mall. Bella wore dark sunglasses, but she was still recognized by a few people. Thankfully though, they all kept their distance and the road was paparazzi free.

If it were up to Bella she'd spend the next few hours in the nearest bookstore, but Alice, of course, was having none of that. She said that now that Bella and Edward were engaged, she had to dress accordingly. Bella tried to argue that no one even knows about the engagement yet, but Alice wouldn't back down. She led her to one of the most expensive shops in the area and when Bella protested that she couldn't afford buying anything from there, Alice revealed that Edward had given her his credit card so that Bella could buy anything she liked.