Chapter One.
It had been nine months since my marriage, eight months since my last birthday, and four months since Christmas. As I was looking back on the past eight months of my new life I realized that so many things have changed. , In the living room of my cottage, surrounded by my new family. I felt…whole. All the years of wondering where I belonged, and with whom, was gone. I knew that this was where I was supposed to be.
Edward was sitting next to me, his arm on the back of the love seat, as I snuggled into his shoulder. On the floor, Rosalie was leaning on the sitting Emmett, playing with Renesemee, while Jacob sat on the other side of the room. They had decided that, for Renesmee's sake, they would act civil around each other. Grimaces were still passed back and forth sporadically, but they could both play with Renesmee at the same time. Right now, they were passing a ball back and forth while Renesmee was in the middle. This was a lot like pickle in the middle, but with Renesmee, Rosalie, and Jacob's reflexes, the ball would fly across the room. If a human were to see this they would be afraid something would get broken but I knew that would not occur with this family. Carlisle and Esme were sitting on the couch while Jasper and Alice were sitting on the armrest.
Everyone was happy, laughing, watching Renesmee dart back and forth between Jacob and Roaslie. She had gotten so big. I couldn't think of a more enjoyable picture. My life was just how I wanted it and I couldn't imagine it better. But suddenly I heard the phone ring, and I thought of Charlie. Yes, if Charlie and Renee were here then this moment would honestly be the greatest I could have ever imagined. Charlie could be, but Renee could not. I still hadn't told her about my recent modifications or about Renesmee, and neither had Charlie. I had talked to her on the phone and given her my number in case of any emergencies or if she wanted to talk. Rrrrringggg Rrrri- It cut off in the middle of the second ring. I expected to hear Alice's wind chime voice but I only hear the static from the phone. I turned to see why she hadn't said anything, and the phone was in my face. "Its for you." She said. I didn't even bother to ask how she knew. Her ability to see glimpses of the future must save her so much time. I, now relitavely flustered, answered the phone, "Hello." My mother had heard my new voice on the phone but was under the impression that the phone lines and my past illness had altered my vocal chords.
"Bella, sweetie!" I heard my mother squeal into the phone. Something very good had happened, that was the only reason she could be this happy. Unless she enjoyed talking to me that much. I quickly ran through the possible pleasant things that could happen; she and Phil were already married so it was nothing about a guy, I was already happily married so it wasn't about me and a guy, nothing good had happened with Charlie lately because I would have known about that before her. I couldn't think of anything, maybe she finally found a hobby to stick to, that would certainly be an accomplishment. I finally gave up.
"Hi mom!" I said sounding enthusiastic, "How are things?"
"Great. Fantastic. Perfect." She threw out a brief list of adjectives to prove her ecstaticness. "I have some very good news…" She said, as if I hadn't already guessed.
"Really? That's great, mom!" I exclaimed, whenever Renee was happy it was hard not to share the emotion. Kind of like Jasper but he could make you feel things that he wasn't, and he did it on purpose.
"Yes. Phil was signed, by the way, but training doesn't start for a few weeks. Once it does, things are going to be awfully busy for me, so I figured now would be a great time to come visit. I'm buying tickets as we speak!" My new ability to process and react was much quicker than before came in handy. Even though this was huge shock to me, I quickly recovered,
"Oh, wow. When are you coming?" I asked, trying to keep the enthusiasm in my voice. I looked around to see everyone's expressions. Edwards face was soft but I could see his eyes tighten, Rosalie was frozen, staring at Renesmee in Jacobs arms. Emmett's arms stiffened around Rosalie, and I could tell that he was worried, even under the playful smile stretched across his face. Jacob had Renesmee in a firm grasp on his lap. She was looking at me. Edward, being able to read her mind, quicly put his finger up to his lips right as Renesmee was about to talk. "Ssshhh…" He mouthed. Carlisle was waiting patiently for my mother to answer and nodded to Jasper. Most of my panic went away.
"Next week." My mother answered, "I cant wait! I will bring everyone presents. Well the girls at least. I started a beading class yesterday and I'm making necklaces and earrings. Aren't you excited? I haven't seen you since your wedding! How is Edward? I hope you guys are happy. Of course you are I can see how much he matters to you. I am very happy for you, I told you that right? He is perfect for you. Oh, you are so lucky you got it right on your first try. Wait!" She exclaimed "This isn't even the best part. I already called Charlie and he said that I am in for a big surprise when I get there, do I get any hints?" Suddenly all the faces in the room turned to stone. No, that wasn't a good way to explain it, stones couldn't have emotions, but all the faces in this room did. They were all the same. Everyone was in a worried state of shock.
"Haha." I said trying NOT to sound worried. The "haha" wasn't even a laugh it was just me saying haha. "No, no hints." I nervously answered. "Umm mom I have to go. Esme just got back from the, errr, mall, and I think she bought me something." This was a complete lie, considering Esme had been sitting across the room from me for the past hour.
"Oh! That's wonderful! Are you living with the Cullen's now? I hope your father is doing well. Oh, sorry you must want to see what she got you. Tell everyone I said hello!"
"Okay. Bye mom. I love you." I uttered. This was true, and I could tell I sounded very sincere because Renee's tone was very soft and subdued, it almost sounded like she was about to burst into tears of joy.
"I love you too, Bella, sweetie." And then she hung up. I could tell that this goodbye made up for my not-excited-enough attitude towards her visiting. I sighed and hung up the phone, laying it on my lap. After a long moment my eyes flickered up to Edwards, he saw the worry in my eyes. Suddenly all his features melted. I used to love when that happened. It used to make me feel like he was human, showing his emotions.
"Awww." He groaned. He couldn't read my thoughts like he could everyone else's but he often could tell what I was feeling if I let my emotions show. "She will love you no matter what. Don't worry." I sighed and looked down. I hoped he was right, but I didn't want him to see the doubt in my eyes. He pulled my chin up so that I would have to look at him. "She will. Everything will be fine." He lightly kissed me, then let go of my chin. Next, my eyes wandered over to Alice's face.
"Edward is right, Bella. Nothing bad will happen. She will be fine." Alice could always reassure me. But I had learned more now, and I knew that her visions were only true based on the decisions at this moment. I nodded and looked away. Esme was now kneeling in front of me, her hands on my knees.
"Really sweetheart. I think you will be more happy once you get this over with."
"Yes," Carlisle agreed, "Being able to have Renee in our lives once more would be a great joy." I looked around to all the other faces in the living room of Edward and my small cottage. They all were in agreement. This would be for the best. Slowly I realized that it would. We could keep Renee on the same need-to-know basis that Charlie was on, we would just need to be more gentle introducing her to it. Jasper could feel the change in my emotional atmosphere and laughed, still shocked by how easily I could control my emotions. Slowly everyone's worried faces spread into slow, wide smiles.
"Jasper! Are you doing this?" I asked looking around, amazed by how easily the emotions of everyone around me had been changed by my easiness.
"No!" He exclaimed "I stopped altering the mood as soon as I could sense when you were at ease." Wow. I never thought that my being upset ever upset anybody else besides Edward. This was just one of the many times I could tell that my family truly had cheerfully, honestly, and completely accepted me.
This was the plan: Renee and Phil would stay at the bed and breakfast in town. Charlie would be here before she arrived at the main house. Jacob would stay with Renesmee in our cottage until one of us went to get them. Alice, Carlisle, and Esme would greet them at the door. Everything was set.
Rosalie had previously assured me that Renesmee was not to be worried about. "She will love her. Nobody can resist her pull, you have seen it work yourself. If she makes stranger vampires react that way, I'm sure she can make Renee feel compassionate towards her. After all, she is named after her."
Hearing Rosalie, ROSALIE, reassure me, I was sure that our camaraderie was still strong. This made me feel much more confident in the present situation.
"It will be fine mommy." Renesmee reassured me as Edward and I were walking her to the cottage the morning of Renee's visit. We were walking hand in hand. Renesmee, Edward, and I. Renesmee was in the middle. Every so often, Edward and I would swing her back and forth sending her flipping into the air in front of us. Landing with a light thud. She would land as soon as we had reached her landing zone. She giggled and shouted "Again! Again!" And we would repeat her personal little ride. As soon as we were within the little clearing our cottage was placed in, Jacob came out through the front door. We flipped Renesmee once more. She landed and sprinted to Jacob, jumping into his awaiting arms. We took our time walking over.
"Hey Bells!" Jacob exclaimed. I flashed a smile at him quickly before he said hello to Edward. Edward nodded at his salutation.
"Jake. I think it will be Rose who will come get you guys. It should be after lunch so make sure you get her fed."
He nodded, "Sure, sure" And planted Renesmee on the ground.
I crouched down and kissed Renesmee on her forehead. "Be good." I grumbled, smiling at her angelic expression. Edward scooped her up and gave her a kiss on her cheek.
"Don't do anything reckless or stupid." He teased, and put her on the ground after ruffling her hair.
"Don't worry. I will be fine. YOU don't do anything reckless or stupid." Her eyes twinkled as she mocked her father.
"We'll be careful, trust me." He laughed.
We turned, as we were walking away Edward thanked Jacob again.
"Sure, sure." Jake repeated.
I went around making sure everything was in tact. I looked in rooms as I walked down the upstairs hallway, Alice was choosing which shoes to wear, Rosalie was painting her fingernails, Carlisle was reading in his study, and Esme was setting up the bathrooms. Passing down the stairs I was wondering where Edward, Jasper, and Emmett were. I assumed Edward was in the garage, and that Jasper and Emmett were hunting. I ruffled the pillows and couch cushions so things didn't look too perfect. Then walked and opened the fridge. A smell like wet dirt suddenly hit me and I realized that not to long ago this would have smelled delicious. Too focused in trying to see through the dim human memories, I was startled by the voice from behind me.
"Renesmee, check. Pillows, check. Food, check. Emmett, whoop bam you can check him off your list too." I turned at the loud, booming laughter from behind me. I grimaced and walked out of the kitchen. Emmett followed me to the dining room where I was fixing the flowers in the vase at the center of the table. "Seriously though, are you sure you don't have OCD of something?"
"Haha. Your hilarious." I mumbled. I turned around to face him, "Are you sure you don't have bipolar disorder or something?" He knew I was referring to his quick temper and crossed his arms, looking down.
"That hurt." He stated, sounding very injured. But when he looked up he was smiling his big goofy smile.
"Point and case." I said leaving the room. I sat down on the large, beige couch adjacent from the grand piano. I could hear the muffled laughter from up stairs, of course everyone had been listening. It was hard not to hear. I could even hear Rosalie laughing, I could also hear all their foot steps. Everyone came down stairs. I'm not completely sure where Edward came from but he silently sat next to me and wrapped his arms around me pulling me closer to him. He was laughing, just like everyone was before.
"I love you." He said in between silent laughs. I laughed once and kissed him softly on the lips.
"Not more than I love you." I said and kissed him again.
"Yes, yes we all love each other very much." Alice said upon her entering the room. "But Renee is arriving in t minus fifteen minutes!" All of a sudden everyone was up and moving.
"Okay Bella, why don't you guys go sit at the dining room table." Esme suggested. "I though that would be best. That way we could greet Renee and she could feel comfortable before shocked."
"Excellent idea." Carlisle retorted. "Grab cards or a game or something. Look like you have been playing for awhile." At this suggestion Alice threw the poker set at Emmet.
"Set it up." She ordered. "Go sit down." Leave it to Alice to become a drill sergeant, I could not picture her in an army uniform like Jasper had once worn, it looked wrong. I shrugged off the imaginary comparison and went to sit at the table. I sat down just as Emmett was dealing cards.
"How about five card stud?" He asked even though it wasn't necessary, he had already finished dealing. I picked up my cards. I had nothing, like usual. Any game of chance was never in my favor, or well almost never. Esme brought a yellow cake with chocolate frosting to the table. It looked like someone had taken a very big slice out of the cake. She saw me eyeing the missing piece suspiciously.
"Jacob." She muttered.
"Ahhh." I breathed out. Jacob was the only one who enjoyed eating normal, human food. The rest of us could, but didn't enjoy it. I leaned back in my chair, rocking onto the two back legs. I now did this out of habit. I wouldn't have dared doing that during my human years. I wasn't nearly coordinated enough back then. I heard Edwards breathing behind me. He was rubbing my arms. He did this when he tried to soothe me down. I leaned my head back to look up at him. He smiled down at me and tilted his head to one side.
"It will go fine. She loves you almost as much as I do." I smiled back at him and blinked. Blinking and breathing were habits by now. I did them without thinking, just like when I was human. He leaned down and kissed me. It still sent an electric tingle down my spine whenever he touched me. But this one lingered, it was a slow but building buzzing. Like the after vibrations once a rubber band was snapped. I knew what that meant. I had inadvertently lifted my shield. This meant he could read my mind. In the past few months it had been so easy I can now do it without thinking. I knew what Edward would be seeing. First it was a slide show of all of our previous kisses, each flashing by quickly, even for us, then I was thinking about Renee. I flashed to the dim memory of her wedding with Phil, a picture of her crying face before I left for my honeymoon, and the image as I pulled down the driveway leaving to go to Isle Esme. The picture of her with Phil's arms wrapped around her while she held Charlie's hand. These were some of my favorite, more recent memories of her. But as soon as that picture had registered in my mind, I had realized my shield was gone. I didn't want Edward to hear my worry and doubt over how she may feel. I quickly snapped it back into place.
"Dang it. I enjoy when I can read your mind." Edward whispered, "It makes my job easier." I still didn't quite understand what the point of whispering was when no matter how quietly you said anything, everyone in the house would hear, but I played along.
"And what exactly is your job?" I whispered, getting up from my chair and turning around. I faced him and he wound his arms around my waist pulling me closer into his chest. My head rested on his shoulder and her rested his head on mine. He kissed my hair before answering.
"To make you feel better." He could try, and I knew he would do everything he could to ease any pain I was ever faced with, but he could not protect me from everything. Believe it or not, there were things out of his power, but that wouldn't stop him from risking his life to protect me and, in the past, it hadn't.
"I know another job of yours." I whispered, looking up through my bangs at his tender, concerned eyes. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and kissed him fervently. Jasper cleared his throat, bringing me back to the present. I reluctantly broke off the kiss, and quickly looked at Edward, he appeared even more upset by the interruption than I was. I smiled at him and mouthed the word later, then turned to Jasper just as Alice was walking into the room. I met Jasper's eyes just before the guilty smile on his face broke out forcing him to look down at the table. I glanced at Rosalie who was leaning against Emmett's side before I heard Alice exhale. She was standing in the doorway. Giving Edward an extremely threatening look for someone slightly bigger than half his size. I laughed sheepishly and unwound Edward's arms from around my waist before sitting down in my chair. She shook her head as if trying to clear the scene that just was.
"Okay..." Alice said slowly, "She should be about rounding the bend on the highway. You have about four minutes. Get settled." Jasper turned in his seat to salute Alice. She smiled and stuck her tiny tongue out at him. She then pirouetted and leaped into the kitchen. I laughed, still amazed by how her every movement looked like dance. I blinked a few times and listened for the tires to turn onto the driveway. I heard it a few minutes later and my breathe stopped. Edward was still behind me and ,upon hearing my breathing stop, started rubbing my arms again. He bent down and kissed me on the cheek, letting his lips linger for a few moments. Once he lifted his head, the room was suddenly much calmer. The car pulled up onto the gravel in front of the house, crunching the pebbles underneath the tires. The engine turned off, the house door opened, and I heard Alice greet Renee. "Renee!" Alice shrieked. I could hear Renee's heart. It started beating faster at the sight of Alice, Esme, and Carlisle at the door.
"You ready?" Edward whispered into my ear. I nodded my head not trusting my voice. He kissed the top of my head.
"Edward, don't distract her." Rosalie hissed. I looked up and she smiled a sincere, encouraging smile. "You got this, Bella." I nodded again and then looked toward Jasper. I knew that he was trying to take away the tense edge of the room.
"Thanks, Jazz." Was all I could manage to mutter. He nodded and smiled then looked out the window at the rain drizzling down from the clouds. The windows in their house were more like glass walls.
I could here Renee shuffling up the first few steps, most likely wearing her rain boots I guessed.
"Can I have two please, Emmett?" Rosalie asked, "And don't even try to cheat, I'm watching you." I looked at her, quite confused. She smiled back at my wondering eyes. She held up the cards.
"Sure, sweetie." Emmett said sarcastically, batting his eyelashes, handing over two cards. Jasper and Edward laughed. Nothing all that funny had happened besides Emmett being sarcastic, and that was a common occurrence. I was baffled. Why were they all acting this way? Edward picked up our cards and put them in front of me. His arms were resting on my shoulders and his head was right next to mine. I abruptly realized what was going on, they were putting on a show. Just like the cake and the food in the fridge was mostly a show, we needed to act the part too. Rosalie gave me a look hoping that I understood what they were doing. I saw it out of the corner of my eye.
"Can we have one, kind sir?" I asked with the same amount of sarcasm Emmett had used. Emmett looked over at me, I batted my eyelashes and pouted my lower lip.
"Are you serious?" He asked chuckling.
"I think I was polite enough, wouldn't you agree Edward?" I tilted my head to the side and raised my eyebrows towards Emmett. He mumbled something indistinct about sarcastic women before Rosalie playfully swatted him on the shoulder. We all chuckled.
"They are in here." Alice supplied. "But first I must warn you. Bella mentioned that you asked about suprises? Well this may be the first of many to come." I heard the light pitter-patter of Alice's feet as she danced across the living room floor towards the dining room.
"I raise your bet by five, Emmett." Jasper announced nonchalantly pushing two pieces into the center.
"I raise yours by fifty, Jasper." Edward retorted. All of us turned to look at Jasper. I quickly realized the advantages of having a mind reader on your team during poker, so did Emmett.
"I fold." Emmet grumbled.
"One down, two to go." Edward said under his breath.
Renee's breathing got faster but slowed down just as quickly as it sped up. There were four sets of footsteps passing across the floor, one was lithe and sounded like it barely touched the floor, while two more were nimble and dainty but were in the pattern of normal footsteps. The last was heavier, it sounded more imbalanced. As they got closer, I started breathing again. There was nothing I could do now besides stay focused. That is best.
I closed my eyes for the last brief second, I kept them closed for a long moment. I opened them just in time to see Renee just as she stepped into the doorway. Her eyes grazed over the faces in the room, she did not make eye contact with any of us, she only was looking at our faces to find me. Upon first glance she couldn't. She didn't find my face. Just as she opened her mouth to speak her eyes caught onto mine. She gasped. Unlike Charlie, at first meet, she only had one emotion at first. Shock. Suddenly her eyes softened, I could see the moisture gathering on the bottom of her eyes. Don't cry. Please don't cry, please. I wished in my head. We looked into each other's eyes. I could see the questions and memories building up in her mind. I felt terrible for forcing her to see this way. I sucked in one breath, the raging fire was forced down my throat. I deserved any pain that this would give me. I had never been the reasons for my mom's tears, I was the one who mopped them up. All it took was that half of a milliliter of salt water to do it for me. All it took was the water tension to break and allow that one tear to roll down her cheek. I collapsed. My arms crossed and my head fell against my arms. I soon felt a hand rubbing my back. It wasn't a natural temperature. It was colder than Jacob or Renesmee, but it was warmer than Edward or Esme. It was Renee. I picked my head up as soon as I processed the heat of her skin against mine. It felt good. I had missed her. Careful not to move to fast, I adjusted in my seat and stood up. As I stood up, my pale sky blue dress rippled down my legs, the folds falling out one by one. Like water. I sluggishly stood up and turned to face my mother. She took my hands in hers, and smiled at me.
"I love you." I murmured. She quickly dropped my hands and wrapped her arms around my neck. I lightly hugged her backm trying not to touch her skin. I could feel her slight shudder under the cold touch of my skin. "I missed you."