Solstice

Chapter 1

The sun was nowhere to be found, hiding behind the grey clouds that covered the sky. Good old, dependable Forks. It's been 95 years since I left with my family. 95 years was a long time to be gone away from home, but when you're a vampire, 95 years is nothing. My parents, for all intents and purposes, Carlisle and Esme travelled ahead of time to our old home in the woods to prepare the house. I couldn't believe it still stood, somehow untouched, like us. When I chuckled at this thought, Edward, my husband looked at me with his crooked smile.

"What's so funny," he asked as he slid his hand from the steering wheel to hold mine. After all this time, the touch of his skin still excited me.

"Nothing," I replied. "It's just funny that after all this time, we've come full circle, is all." At that moment, I turned my head to see our sleeping daughter in the backseat. Renesmee. There was no other love that I felt could ever compare to Edward, than what I felt for her. She was very like me in regards to having chocolate brown eyes and long wavy brown hair, but that's where the similarities ended. She looked most like Edward.

"I know what you mean. I just wonder how she'll handle being back in Forks." I was shocked that he had said this, it was as if he could read my mind. Well, actually Edward could read thoughts, just not mine. I too was worried for Renesmee. This marked the first time we'd be back to Forks since Jacob's death, which naturally she did not handle well. My best friend, her husband, loved her till the day he died. Though he was a werewolf and did not age as other humans did, eventually he did age, but he was adamant not to be turned into a vampire. It was hard on Renesmee and me, but we respected his wishes. Edward even went as far to check Jake's mind everyday to double check for any doubt, but there wasn't any.

"I'm worried too, but Renesmee is strong and she'll be able to handle it. After all, most of her memories of Forks were from when she was an infant, her memory isn't as collective as ours." Renesmee was two when we moved away but at the time she looked about 4. Now at the age of 97 (ha-ha) she could pass for 17. "But maybe it'll be good for her, you know change in scenery and people?" One can hope right?

"Maybe," was all my husband could say before his phone chirped. "Alice?" Without meaning to, I listened as Alice was describing a vision she just had.

"Edward, you and Bella shouldn't worry about anything, Renesmee will be fine on Monday. It's a little fuzzy wuzzy, but it looks like she might meet someone at school!!" Gahh!! Stupid vampires with their active powers. Though my power as a shield has come in handy a few times, still nothing seemed to compare to having the ability to see the future or read minds.

Alice and her husband were following us in Alice's car, a yellow Lamborghini Murcielago. At some point in time, Alice got tired of her yellow Porsche and got the Lamborghini. She liked the Murcielago 'cause it meant bat in Spanish.

Behind her my adopted sister Rosalie followed in her Bugatti Veyron. I love my sister dearly but her and her ostentatious cars attract a lot of attention. While we were living in Germany Rose fell in love with the car and of course wanted one. At first, the auto makers resisted her pleas but she finally convinced them to make a replica of the Pur Sang version. It's French for "pure blood," so she saw it fitting. Of course Rose got it in red. I do have to admit, the car did have the appearance of a vampire car, it was virtually indestructible with its pure aluminum-carbon fibre body and the wheels had a diamond cut finish.

The meaning of their cars were a bit much, but our family saw it as a private joke. Much like calling ourselves vegetarians.

Emmett of course stayed with an off road vehicle, but instead of a Jeep, he followed Rosalie in a Range Rover Sport Supercharged.

My husband loved his silver cars and opted to buy a Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG. He liked it cause it was more "family friendly." I always thought that was hilarious considering our daughter was old enough to have her own vehicle. But there was no telling Edward anything else, though he truly was right. Can you see the faces that the other students would make if we pulled up in Rose's car?

"What's got you so far away?" My husband whispered to me as I was looking out of the window. Judging from the green blur that was passing by, I figured we going 120 miles per hour. Hmmm, we're slowing down, we must be almost home.

"Nothing, just itching to do some riding." Edward was towing my vehicle, if you want to call it that, ha-ha. I drove a Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle. Jacob taught me how to ride when I was a fragile human and it's been my favorite hobby since. Oh I miss Jake.

Edward looked at me peculiarly, it still bothers him that he can't read my mind. "You sure? Are you thirsty?" When I shook my head, he seemed satisfied. "Do you want me to pull over? You can unhitch you bike and ride the rest of the way." Excitement filled my entire being at thought of riding in the rain. Edward pulled over and in a tenth of a second I was out the door and set free my bike.

In frustration or eagerness, Emmett pulled up alongside Edward and asked, "What's the hold up, bro?"

"Hey Emmett, I'll race ya!" And with that I was gone, Emmett looked stunned for only a second before he caught on. I could hear him right behind me but I was not going to let him get ahead. The rain and wind whipped my hair around and I couldn't help but laugh at the exhilaration that I felt. I was glad I wasn't around Jasper because I was sure he would use his power to suck some of the excitement out of me. All the emotions I was feeling at the moment would have been overkill for him.

I turned down the familiar path and Emmett was still behind me but he seemed to be gaining. Grrrrr, Rosalie and her car tuning. I wouldn't be surprised if she supercharged an already supercharged car. But then again, I wasn't even going full throttle, so I hunched myself over to be more aero dynamical with the bike and pressed forward. I loved being a vampire.

I pulled up to the house in first place of course, as my siblings and family came trailing in behind me. "Ha!" I called out to Emmett as I hopped of and walked over to Edward and Renesmee. In that short period of time, I missed my family.

"No fair. I want a rematch!" I love him dearly but he can be so simple sometimes. All he thinks about is racing, wrestling, sports, and Rose. So predictable.

"Agghhh, Bells you should of just let him win. Now we have to listen to him complaining about losing and wanting a rematch." Alice was always right, dang that lil pixie.

Edward bent over to give me a kiss and brushed a lock of hair behind my ear. Renesmee was just closing the door when Esme and Carlisle stepped outside to greet their children.

"Ok, guys, we need to have a meeting." Carlisle spoke with the authority of a parent. Well I guess he should, since he's been doing this for over a century or two. I don't know why I was finding everything amusing today. "So be in the dining room after you get settled in your rooms. Let's say ten minutes?" He looked around and when he saw no objections, he turned around into the house. No doubt he was headed to his study.

Esme walked down the steps and gave me a hug. She loved each of us but everyone knew that Edward was the favorite. One day though, Edward told me in confidence that I was her favorite. Once I came into his life, he became alive, and for that Esme would always be grateful that I showed Edward how to love. If I could've cried for one moment in my life, well existence, it would have been that moment.

"Are you going to be okay, dear?" She asked. Oh my loving Esme.

"I think so. For a change I'm actually excited about starting high school again." I made a face that any teenager would give when thinking about school. "I'm hoping that it'll take my mind off of everything."

We all knew it would be hard for Renesmee to be so close to the Quileute reservation that she and Jacob used to call home, but I didn't think any of them realized how hard it might be for me. Charlie, my human father, died 35 years after we left Forks. I couldn't go to the funeral for a number of reasons. One the obvious being since I was a vampire, I was eternally 18 years old. There was no amount of plastic surgery someone could fake at the age of 53 and still look 18. Ha-ha. Another reason was also obvious, but as a human, naturally I had a lot of human friends. Charlie was the one who came up with the idea of me faking my death. The official story was while away at college, Edward and me were mugged and I was stabbed with a knife.

I thought it was a bit morbid, but Charlie thought it was best and Edward of all people agreed. I found it a bit uncomfortable laying in the coffin as people paraded around my "corpse." It didn't matter to me that I had to lay there unmoving and not breathe, 'cause hello, vampire! It was uncomfortable because again I was the center of attention. People looked at me and commenting how peaceful and beautiful I looked. I remember Angela Weber's father was the priest that officiated my "funeral," and he said how saddened he was that, "not two years prior I was the officiant of her wedding to her loving husband, Edward Cullen." The only thing I found amusing was trying to keep my composure when Mike Newton passed. Emmett had mentioned beforehand that he thought it would be funny if when he passed by the coffin, I opened my eyes. Ha-ha, I should of but didn't.

I missed Charlie but I knew we all loved Forks and it was my idea to come back. Forks, was our home.

Rose and Emmett weren't going to high school with us so they built a house a little closer to the infamous clearing. I shuddered thinking about it, so many tragic things happened in that clearing: James, Victoria, the Volturi. Since they weren't staying at the main house, Renesmee wanted to stay in their room. Me and Edward decided to run to our cottage, Esme said she fixed it up for us, and we were excited to see our little place.

He grabbed my hand and we ran all the way to the cottage. It was like we never left. Esme did her wonders with the place. Renesmee's room was no longer the nursery, as we had left it. Just in case she wanted to spend a few nights with her stuffy old parents, Esme replaced the crib with a King sized bed and painted the entire room yellow, Renesmee's favorite color. There were specks of orange throughout the painted walls. Walking on the sun was probably the effect that Esme was going for. I reminded myself to tell Renesmee to come visit the cottage so she can see what her grandmother did for her.

There was very little that Esme needed to redo in our room, though it smelled as if she repainted recently. Yup the paint was still wet. Isle Esme was the theme. White and tan and bright and cozy, I loved the senses it brought to me. Edward brought me to closer to him and the bed. "We still have eight minutes before the meeting, Love." There goes that crooked smile I love. He was right we needed some alone time.