A Family Affair, Part Two
A/N: This is the fourth "book" in my series. If you haven't already, I would recommend reading the other stories: Cry Little Sister (1), Golden (2), and A Family Affair, Part One (3). And if something in any of my stories sounds familiar, I don't own it.Chapter One
When Edward and I returned to the house on that cold Christmas night of 1931, I knew what it would mean to Carlisle and Esme. They loved us in every way that parents should love their children, and it had greatly pained them to have their only son away from the family, leading the life that he did. But all that pain would have been worth it when they had him back.
Edward stopped at the foot of the porch steps. Looking up at the large white seaside mansion, he thought with a tight smile, It's a beautiful house. You've made a beautiful life for yourselves. Without me. I don't deserve to share that life with you, sister, or Esme or Carlisle.
I reminded him gently, Our life without you, Edward, has no beauty. It may seem that way, but it's just an illusion. Without you, we live in complete misery. Smiling warmly, I added, They'll be happy to see you.
As usual, I was right. Esme broke down sobbing when she spied Edward in the doorway to the parlor; even in her immortal body that would never weaken or tire, she didn't have the strength to get up from her desk and embrace him. But that didn't matter because Edward was cradling her in his arms in the same instant that she sobbed his name. Carlisle, who in my fading human memories had sobbed over me when he'd taken me to my aunt Sophia that night I'd lost my parents and Edward, was even sobbing a little when Edward released Esme and extended his hand to him. Any human father might have bitten back any emotion at the return of his only son and shaken his son's extended hand, but Carlisle was no human father, and he loved Edward more than any human father could love his human son. So Carlisle knocked Edward's hand away and wrapped him in an enormous hug that would have crushed the bones of even the strongest human.
They did not question Edward's return, afraid that any question they ask might change his mind. They also did not judge him for the choice he'd made, especially Carlisle who, even though he believed that we could and should protect the humans we were supposed to kill, held no judgment against those who did not believe as he did.
A week later, on the afternoon of New Year's Eve, there was a knock on our front door. Edward and I answered the door, only to be met with Mayor Stevens, Carl Finley and his son Joshua, and Alan Green and his son Derek, the heads of the only other families left in Collinsport. Mayor Stevens, who seemed the most upset out of the five men, asked if Carlisle was at home; I replied that he was and asked Edward to show the men into the front parlor while I fetched Carlisle.
When all the men had been seated comfortably in the parlor (which they all regarded with awe, considering we were in the middle of the Depression), Carlisle leaned gracefully against the mantle and queried, "Now, gentlemen, what occasion has brought you to our home?"
Mayor Stevens's eyes flickered anxiously towards Esme and me sitting silently side-by-side on the piano bench, Edward standing just behind us. Mayor Stevens didn't want a female audience to the shame of the announcement he was about to make. So he said, nervously licking his lips, nodding in our direction, "Carlisle, your wife and sister-in-law may not wish to be present for this. I'm sure they've no interest in politics and economics."
At that, Edward snorted lightly out of his nose and answered for Carlisle, "I beg your pardon, Mayor, but I'm sure my sisters are perfectly content with remaining here. They have shown an interest in politics and economics in the past."
For a split second, Mayor Stevens's nostrils flared angrily and his eyes tightened warily at Edward's disrespect. But he huffed, "Fine," and turned his gaze back to Carlisle. "Carlisle," Stevens said, dying a little on the inside to finally admit this out loud, "we've all decided to leave Collinsport." His smooth brow furrowing, Carlisle asked why.
This time, it was Carl Finley who replied, "There's nothing here for us, Dr. Cullen. There's no money for us and there's no way for us to make money here. We have to leave to find work to make money, or our families will all die."
Carlisle's dark eyes flickered across the faces of the men in the room. He'd been expecting this announcement for some time now, and the only surprise he was showing was staged. "Where will you and your families go?" he asked softly, looking down at the full teacup he held in his hand and swirling it gently.
"Probably Portland or Augusta," young Derek Green answered. As soon as he said it, he had the dim hope that our family would follow, but that hope shattered itself when he glanced quickly over at my stone profile. There's no chance she'd ever be with me, he thought sadly.
With a heavy sigh, Carlisle stated, "I'm very sorry, gentlemen. I know how much this town meant to you." He paused again and pretended to take a drink of his tea. "Well, unfortunately, gentlemen, your announcement was very well timed." Looking upset at that, they started demanding why; Carlisle explained, "Esme and I, and Emily and Edward as well, have also decided to leave Collinsport." The question swept across all their faces. Carlisle went on, "My mother and father live in Rochester, New York, and they're struggling to stay afloat because they're both too elderly and sickly to do any work that is required of them. So we've decided to move to Rochester to support them."
Unable to find the right words for a moment, Mayor Stevens suddenly burst out, "But what if there's not a place at a hospital for you, Carlisle? And how could your doctor's salary alone support six people? And what about Emily? Doesn't someone have to take care of her?"
Sighing again, Carlisle answered, "Mayor Stevens, Esme and I have already discussed all of this. There is an available position at the hospital that I intend to take; Esme has been offered a teaching position there, and Edward plans on splitting his time between being my assistant at the hospital and helping my mother and father take care of Emily when she's ill. We'll be all right, I assure you."
They weren't convinced. They spent another twenty minutes trying to convince Carlisle that our family needed to accompany the Stevenses, the Finleys, and the Greens to Portland or Augusta or wherever they would end up going. But in the end, the five men left our house-the only one left in town that held some token of the life that had existed before the Depression-even more disheartened and broken than they already were.
And exactly one week later, that great house, the one which had been the most splendid and elegant in town, stood sadly empty, its bare rooms echoing with the sounds of silence and the faraway thunder of the crashing winter waves.