Chapter One

Bella

I had finally finished school in wet dreary Forks and now it was time to head off to Seattle and college. I would miss living with my dad of course, it had been wonderful to get a few years living with him while Renee and Phil had been traveling with his job but I wasn't sorry for other reasons.

When I first moved to Forks I was very shy and self conscious and having a friend like Jacob Black to talk to had been a relief. I hadn't remembered him from my early years when I still visited Charlie in Forks for the summer but it seemed he did. In fact he was very fond of me, something I didn't at first realize.

It was only when he started to act strange and complain when I went out with my friends from school, Angela, Eric, Mike, Tyler, and Jessica that I understood he was jealous. I tried talking to Charlie about the problem but he didn't understand. Jake liked me a lot and I liked him so what was wrong? Even when I explained that Jake liked me a LOT more than I liked him he didn't really get it.

I had soldiered on for a few more months until finally plucking up the courage to tell Jake that I wasn't in love with him, that in fact I wasn't in love with anyone. I just wanted to live my life, go to college, get a career, and maybe one day meet someone I could fall in love with. My parents example had made me fear getting married too soon. I didn't want to end up divorced before I was twenty or left with a child to look after on my own even though Renee had done a good job with me.

I wanted to travel, see the world and experience other cultures not cook and keep house while playing nursemaid to a baby, I was much too young. Jake found this very difficult to understand, in his eyes that was what life was all about, falling in love, getting married and having a family. We quarreled several times and then argued bitterly and I never saw him again, or his father who used to visit my dad all the time before that.

Charlie

It was hard to let Bella go, after all I'd only just got her back or at least that's how it felt but she was becoming a woman and I appreciated she wanted to further her education, it was something I wish I'd been able to do when I was her age. I didn't quite get this urge to travel abroad but then that was one of the things that had come between Renee and myself in the early days. I guess I was just a country boy at heart.

Still her mother made sure Bella would travel, they went round the country as she was growing up and next summer she and Phil were taking Bella on the trip of a lifetime to Yellowstone National Park. For now though she would only be a short way away.

I guess I'd hoped she might fall for Jacob Black and decide to settle down in Forks but that had soon proved to be a forlorn hope as he thought much more of her than she did of him. Billy didn't understand it either, after all we'd spent many a fishing trip planning their lives together and he seemed to take it personally that Bella didn't want his son. Jake had hung around for a while after Bella told him she wasn't interested but then they had a terrible fight and he left, not only our house but Forks altogether. No one seemed to know exactly where he'd gone but neither did they seem much concerned by this. when I'd finally asked Billy outright he just shrugged,

"He's a boy with a broken heart Charlie. He'll be back once he gets over Bella. For now he's gone to see my family in North Dakota."

I had watched with pride as Bella graduated school and taken her to dinner along with all the other parents accompanied by Renee and Phil who had flown up especially. I'd had my doubts about Renee raising Bella alone but I had to admit she had done a good job of it and Phil, well he was OK by me and he and Bella got on fine. Now I was going to watch as she left home probably for the very last time.

Renee had arrived yesterday to take Bella shopping for some last minute things and deciding it was stupid for her to stay in a hotel I had invited her to spend a couple of nights here with Bella. They had obviously enjoyed their shopping trip although usually it took a team of wild horses to force Bella to enter a department store. For her last night we all went out to dinner in Port Angeles. Renee had found a small Italian restaurant that she wanted to try and I had to agree that the food and the service were both excellent.

Half the night we spent chatting about the proposed trip to Yellowstone Park and Renee brought out brochures and articles about the place although I still didn't see the attraction, it was just like Forks with its mountain ranges and cold weather but when I voiced my opinion they just stared at me and shook their heads. It was plain to see Bella took after her mother and not me. Then Renee dropped the bombshell,

"You know Charlie, if your mother were alive she'd been chomping at the bit to join us."

"My mother?"

"Yes, I had a long talk with her once about travel and she told me if she hadn't married your father she would have liked to travel. She always wanted to see India and Egypt so you see Bella takes after her as much as me. If it wasn't for college Phil and I would have taken Bella to Paris, but that needs plenty of time."

I was surprised, I'd never thought of my mother as anything other than a stay at home mom but then she too had been a young woman once with dreams of her own, just like Bella.

I could tell there was something Renee wanted to tell me but not in front of Bella, so I suggested she might make coffee. Once our daughter was out of the room, and earshot, Renee leaned forward in her chair with one of those grins she wore when she was up to something.

"There is a surprise for Bella in all this."

"Oh yeah?"

"Phil was going to rent an RV but we decided it would be far more fun to camp out."

"Camp out?"

I wasn't sure I'd heard her right.

"Yes, you know tents, camp fires, all that sort of thing."

"You're going to take Bella camping?"

I couldn't help the laughter that burst from me, the idea of our daughter who could hardly manage a night hike in the forest here going camping in the wilds of the Yellowstone Park was highly amusing.

"Now don't you tell her Charlie. It's a surprise."

"Oh don't worry I won't and best of luck with that!"

Just for once it wasn't raining the morning I waved goodbye to my girl. Bella had been too nervous to eat much at breakfast and she'd given me a long lingering hug and thanked me for everything before leaving. I stood on the porch watching as Renee's car disappeared from view, Bella's hand waving frantically from the passenger side window. I must have stayed like that for a good ten minutes before I could force myself to move then I turned and walked back inside a house that felt suddenly empty and far too quiet and knew I would miss my little girl's presence for a long time to come.

The phone ringing stridently called me out of my reverie and answering it I was relieved to hear I was needed at the station. A hiker had come in from the mountain to report sighting a giant wolf headed towards town. We'd had a couple of what we assumed were bear attacks recently on hikers so maybe he'd been mistaken in his fear. Whatever the case we needed to get out into the forest and try to track it down before it harmed anyone else.

Too many bear attacks would hurt the hiking and climbing trade that kept Forks flourishing not to mention causing havoc with the logging industry. I rang Harry and asked if a couple of the Quileutes would be willing to serve as trackers and he agreed to meet me at the station along with Sam Uley. It was back to business as usual and for once I was glad of it.