Secrets & Lies

Chapter Three

Bella

The painful headache wakes me up. I groan, rolling onto my back and my feet hit something soft.

"Ouch, Ma." Noah laughs. "Those are my ribs."

I sit up a little too quickly and my head fogs up again, but when it clears I notice I'm on my couch covered with a blanket. Noah is sitting by my feet, covering himself with the same blanket, and eating cookies with a glass of milk beside him.

"What time is it?" I ask, looking around for my phone.

"It's seven, Ma."

"Seven?!" Did I just sleep through an entire day? What the fuck happened? "Wait who picked you up?"

"Rita did, Ma. She said you weren't feeling good. Are you okay?"

I sigh, running my hands through my hair. I can't believe I slept through an entire day.

"Yes, I'm fine, sweetheart. Where's your brother?"

"He's in his room talking to his friend. Rita is making dinner."

I throw the blanket off me and walk to the kitchen. My feet paddle on the cold marble floor. When I walk in, Rita is at the counter cutting a loaf of bread for the spaghetti meatballs, the meal she makes when I don't feel well because she knows I love it so much. As soon as she sees me, Rita puts down the kitchen knife and puts her hands on her hips.

"Rita, I am so sorry-"

"You should be sorry, young lady."

"I know. It was your day off and I-"

"My day off? My day off! Sweetheart, I don't give a damn about my day off. Imagine how I felt when I came home and saw you unconscious and another man here! I thought the worst!"

There was a man here?

"What? Who?"

"You don't remember?" She asked.

I lightly shake my head.

Rita sighs, rubbing her forehead. "Darling, you had another one of your episodes. The man was Mr. Cullen, the husband of the woman that's missing. He said he wanted to take you to the hospital but you asked him to bring you here."

Mr. Cullen? Oh! Edward. It slowly starts coming back to me. We were at the precinct with Detective Black and Denali and they were giving us information about... Emmett's affair. It wasn't a dream. It was real...

I pull out a chair and take a seat, burying my face in my hands.

"Emmett was having an affair."

Rita gasps. "What?"

I look at her. "He was having an affair with Mr. Cullen's wife. He was leaving me for her..."

"Oh, sweetheart. Oh, no wonder you had another episode." She reaches for the teapot and pours me a cup. "Here, I just made it. It'll help calm down your nerves."

I take the tea from her and gladly drink it.

"I wouldn't have seen Emmett doing such a thing," she said, looking down at the counter. "He loves you all so much. He's told me that you and the boys are his whole life."

"Yes, well, that was a lie." I don't want to talk about this. I get up with my cup of tea and say, "I'm going to change. Thank you for the tea, Rita."

"Bella."

I stop halfway out the door. "Yes?"

"Do you think that maybe we should make an appointment with Dr. Wyatt?"