Chapter One

It was raining, but then it nearly always rained in Forks, Washington. This time though it seemed appropriate as we stood by the graveside and watched the coffins slowly lowered into the grave. Shocked and grieving faces watched in silence as a single red rose landed on the polished lid of the smaller of the two. There were sobs from a black clothed woman as she was next and by the time we had finished both lids were obscured by long stemmed roses, red and white. As the crowd started to disperse a solitary figure stood motionless, gazing down with guilt on his face, this should never have happened and he was to blame. Realizing this he stood alone a moment longer before turning and walking away, away from the grave, away from the mourners, away from his only reason for living, into the dripping trees that ringed the churchyard.

Rose

The first we knew of the tragedy was a scream of horror followed by feet down the staircase.

"Shes dead, Bella's dead"

At first we didn't believe her. How could this be? After we had left to keep her safe, how could she be dead? Carlisle saw the truth of Esme's words in her expression.

"I was looking on the net at the news for Seattle and there was an article about it."

Carlisle picked up the phone and dialed the Police Station in Forks. The Deputy who answered knew him and while surprised to hear his voice was able to confirm the news article. Not only was Bella dead, but her father too. They had been driving to the Airport, Bella was to visit her Mother in Florida when the brakes failed on a large truck hauling logs, it smashed into the cruiser launching it over the bridge and into the water below. Charlie had died instantly but Bella they discovered had been trapped by her twisted and jammed seat belt and unable to free herself, had drowned. The whole town was in mourning and the funeral was taking place the next day.

Carlisle

Everyone looked at me as I replaced the receiver, Emmett shocked into immobility, Rose stony faced and Esme heaving with dry sobs. That left three members of the family unaware of what had happened, Edward whose whereabouts were a mystery to us and Jasper who had left after the incident at the birthday party, despite entreaties from Alice to stay. I had tried to reason with him, tell him we didn't blame him for the attack but he was unable to live with the guilt and one day he had just vanished. One bag was all he took, his books, his guitar, everything else, was left behind neatly packed away in his closet. He hadn't contacted us since and Alice had been unable to locate him, it was as if he had simply vanished from the planet. She too had left later, unable to stay here with all the memories, she had moved abroad. Only once had she contacted us to say she was settled and had found her mate in a nomad called Antonio. They were going to travel but she had bad news too. Since she had left us she couldn't see any of our futures or anyone she had known before. It was as if a veil had fallen across her gift and it left her saddened.

"I'd better contact Edward, I'm sure he'll want to know"

"Are we going to the funeral?"

Emmett was the last person I expected to want to go to a funeral but as Rose nodded I realized they had already made their decision.

"I think we should Carlisle, especially now people are aware we know."

So Esme was in agreement. I nodded,

"I'll ring the hospital to arrange cover, Rose would you let Edward know, he can make his own decision and arrangements then.

Rose

It was hard contacting my brother as he hardly ever answered his cell phone but I was in luck. Edward didn't want to talk, he'd been acting really strange since he broke up with Bella, it was almost as if he blamed her for the separation which was crazy. Despite all that he, agreed to meet us in Forks for the funeral, asking if Alice would be there. I knew he missed her probably most of all but I had to tell him no, she had declined our offer of hospitality. She and Antonio were traveling in Russia and didn't have time or the inclination to break their journey. As she had explained,

"If one was alive I would have tried to be there Rose, but whats the point? There's no one to offer condolences to, only her mother and we never really knew her did we? I'll send some flowers though. Give my love to the family."

And then she was gone, my bubbly sister was very serious and sad these days despite telling us how happy she was with her mate.

The one person we couldn't contact was Jasper although we did try. I'm not sure why we felt it was so important that he know, he and Bella hadn't known each other well and to my knowledge he'd never spoken to her Father. I guess it was so he would know that he hadn't destroyed her, fate had taken care of that instead.

When we arrived at the Church for the Service there were lots of whispers which we ignored and dark looks which we also chose not to notice. The Cullens may have broken her heart but we hadn't killed her. Her Mothers Husband got up during the service and spoke about Bella while Harry Clearwater said a few words about Charlie. There were a lot of uniforms there although it was decided not to have a Police Burial Service as he and Bella were being buried together. I saw Mike, Angela, Eric and a lot of our other old school friends, all looked devastated and only Angela came over to speak as we stood waiting at the graveside,

"Hello, I didn't expect to see you here, especially Edward. It was such a shock poor Bella, and Charlie of course, and after all that nasty business was cleared up too."

"Nasty business?"

"Oh, didn't you know? Her Father was suspended for a while, they said he was taking bribes from some drug dealer in Seattle. It was rubbish obviously, and he was cleared but it was a nasty few months."

"When was this?"

"Only a few months before they died. They had planned a holiday together to celebrate, in Hawaii, and Bella was excited about it. I think she was missing the sun since Edward left, she still loved him you know. She never dated anyone else, not even Jake. She just turned her back on her Quileute friends altogether and she didn't hang out with us either, not any longer. Still, its over and she's at peace now. I feel sorry for the driver of the truck that hit them, it turned out someone had tampered with his brakes. He was lucky to escape with his life. As the truck followed the Cruiser over the edge he jumped out, broke his pelvis and shattered his left leg but at least he survived"

"Did they ever find out who did it?"

"No, some said it was just a prank gone wrong, others the driver's ex wife's new boyfriend wanting him out of the way. Who knows? And I guess it doesn't matter to them anyway"