August 15, 2052

We had been waiting for this moment since Charlie's cancer spread two years ago. Every moment was agony for him, and seeing that pain, it was unbearable at times. For the past week, Charlie had been placed in a hospice outside of Seattle, and Nessie and I identified us as granddaughters and stayed with Charlie almost all the time.

I will never forget my last moments with my Dad. His hands were almost as cold as mine were. Dark circles were turning purple under his eyes. His skin was translucent, which made his veins prominent. My father hated having people taking care of him; he wasn't that kind of man. I knelt by his bed and prayed for him, and his eyes opened.

"Dad?"

"Bells…" He touched my cheek.

"I love you so much. I'm going to miss you."

"Always have. Always will love you." Charlie's breathing began to get raspy, "Come and visit some time." He took a deep breath and died.

In the forty or so years of being a vampire, I knew this moment was going to happen; I was going to be officially an orphan and the Cullen family and the Quilettes would be only families. Mom died three years ago from car crash, which even now, has been difficult to deal with, but with Charlie, since he knew the secret, I felt closer to him than Mom, which I thought I would have uttered that sentence fifty years ago.

We kept the secret away from everyone, and Dad, the Quilettes, and the Cullens had made an impenetrate bond that made the tragedies easier to deal with. Now, Mom, Dad, Sue, and Billy gone now; it seems a little reality had left me. This is exactly how my vampire family felt as their generation died out—utterly alone in the world. I can understand how some vampires lose their humanity at this point, because there was nothing to hold on to, no human connection to prove you were first a human.

We planned the funeral, and Charlie had wished to be cremated and his remains would stay with us. He had instructed us that whenever we were in a spot that reminded us of him we would release some of his ashes. He would be with us always. There were still people from Forks who still remembered the Cullens, so Nessie and I would be the only ones to attend the public wake and funeral; the Quilettes had a ceremony last night to honor my father and, in our minds, was the actual funeral.

The public funeral or celebration was for the town in general. Nessie and I both dressed in black with dark gloves and veils. Charlie had spread the rumor that Bella Swan Cullen had died before him when she was travelling overseas. The town bought it, and his granddaughters would be his natural heirs. I had to write the eulogy which was difficult to write without adding anything supernatural. Leaving out vampires and werewolves, his eulogy sounded like a lie to me, and a part of me didn't want to give the speech at all.

Edward squeezed my shoulder, "Honey, write as though you are talking to him. What would you want to say to him?"

"Don't go. Stay with me."

"Bella, really, what would Charlie want to be remembered for?"

This afternoon, my father's ashes were placed on a stand in front of the mourners. Squeezing my daughter's hand, I rose and approached the podium. "Charlie Swan did not like the wishy washy stuff, so I won't in his honor. My grandfather protected Forks for fifty years and became a prominent citizen in Forks as well as our Quilette friends. He was always careful. A change of tires. Pepper Spray. A loaded shotgun." People chuckled. "He was our strength. He was the never-ending rock that we leaned on when we needed him, and with his passing, we use his legacy as our strength as we grieve." I heard sobs and smelled tears. "He was a dedicated father, husband, grandfather, and friend that will never be replaced. I miss you," and I almost muttered Dad, but I changed it to, "We'll miss you, Charlie." With that, I stepped down the stairs and sat next to Ness who was inconsolable.

Carlisle had made plans to move to Maine within the next week or so. Jasper's connections had made us new identities, and we would start life again. Nessie hated whenever we left, because we were her family too. Edward insisted his daughter and Jake to join us, since they, too, could be exposed with their ageless appearance, but Nessie needed time to mourn her grandfather and to leave, would be too sudden a change. We decided for the time being that Charlie's ashes would be in her care.

I packed the last duffle bag full of necessities, and within hours, we were in Lubec, Maine—one of the first places the sun rises on the American continent. For years, it had been argued that certain mountain ranges would receive the sun's rays first, but it was Lubec that was the prominent victor.

Carlisle had started his practice a month ago there. Even in the 2050's, it was still a small town—except during New Year's or the equinoxes. He registered us at the Lubec Consolidated School that served kindergarten to high school in a cluster of buildings: Emmett and Rose as juniors, and Edward, Alice, Jasper, and me as sophomores. Another chapter of vampire life.