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Distortion.

Chapter Three: Arrival.

Emmett's POV.

Love me like you never have before.

I had not been able to fall back to sleep after my mother's revelation. Jasper had thankfully taken pity on me and said that he would take the children out for the day to meet his girlfriend, Alice.

The peace and quiet that gave me left my mind to wander. With a smile, I pulled the photo album that held the most precious memories that I had of Isabella. Our romance had been one for the books. It was not grand or flashy. There were not five star restaurants or get-aways to Morocco or France. Instead it was filled with picnics at the park and visits to the beach. Five star meals were traded in for an Applebee's special and paper flowers were an acceptable gift. There was never any wealth involved. There was no diamond bought or dress demanded. It was simply Isabella and me and it was perfect.

.

.

.

I met Isabella when I was attending an Alumni meeting with my father. I was the first born son in the Cullen family, the one who was destined for greatness and she was the waitress who spilled more than a thousand dollars worth of champagne on my shoes. My father was quick to pass judgment on her and openly berated her while I became mesmerized with the girl with the porcelain skin and deep, beautiful brown eyes.

After a mumbled apology, she quickly scurried of, the presence of tears very much seen. I had been disgusted by my father's actions. Quickly, I left after, throwing some heated words at my father, and then followed Isabella out. I found her crying on the steps behind the service entrance. Before either of us could comprehend what I was doing, I had Isabella wrapped up in my suit jacket, in a cab and on her way home with me as her companion.

Later on in the cab ride, she would apologize fifteen times, offer to pay for a new pair of shoes seven times and offer to apologize to my father three times before I told her to shut-up. When we got to her place, she invited me up, fed me a home-cooked meal and by the time I left at three the next morning, I was hers.

I never knew love until I met her. I remember the day she sent my house-keeper and cook on a paid vacation and took of all the cooking and cleaning. I remember the day that she told me she loved me for the first time and then yelled at me for taking her to a fancy restaurant dinner. I remember the time I cried into her arms when I had lost my dearest friend in the army and I remember the day that I ran into her arms after I had served my time in the Marines.

She was my world and it all fell apart because of my parents and their belief that they knew what was best for me. My mother and father used every moment that they were with her to undermine, insult and badger her. Her parents were not rich and they were not part of the elite society. They judge her based on what she wore and where she grew up not her heart, morals or intellect. The night she left me broke my heart. It was also the night that I had decided to propose to her but my parents did not agree so they hit her where they knew that it would hurt the most. They targeted me. They knew she would have done anything for me and all it took was one simple threat and she left, so that I could be happy. But I never was happy. I could never be happy without her there with me, by my side.

With Isabella's departure, the situation imploded on itself and no one was spared. Like it was expected of me, I married Rosalie. Her parents were thrilled. Mine were not. They were left with the shell of who I used to be. Yes, I acted like all was right in the world. Yes, I showered Rosalie with lavish gifts and affection but I knew nothing else. That was how I was raised to treat women and that was how I treated her. I placed her onto a pedestal and worshipped the ground she walked on and she took that and ran with it.

But my parents knew the truth. They knew the nights I would stay awake simply because I feared of dreaming about her. They knew the restaurants I would no longer go to because they were her favorite. They knew all the tears I cried and the pain I shouldered because of what they had done. They had apologized; seen the error of their ways but it was not enough. It would have never been enough. I wanted Isabella back in my life and that was the one thing that could not happen.

Now so many years later, here they were throwing her back into my life. Was I thankful? Yes. Was I terrified? Yes. God only knows how hard this had been for me, for us.

I was pulled out of my trip down memory lane when I felt the feather-light touch of the softest touch that I had ever encountered.

"Have you forgotten me that you need my picture to remember me by?" Her beautiful bell-like voice murmured as she bent down so her soft, plush lips caressed my ear with her words.

"Bella." I said hoarsely as my emotions overflowed, no longer contain by obligations.

"Emmett." She responded back as her scent enveloped me in a comfort I had long forgotten.

"You're here." I whimpered as she caressed my cheek.

"I am here, my love." She responded and before she knew what I was doing, I vaulted the back of the couch and crushed her to my chest.

"Never are you to leave me again. They can threaten with removing me from the company, disowning me, taking all my money but never again are you to leave me." I cried into her hair. "I won't survive it."

"Neither would I." She said as she clung to me, her arms locked around my neck.

For what seemed like hours we stood there clinging to one another because for the first time in almost ten years we were whole.