Hi, I've been working on this for a while in my spare time so I have about 14 Chapters written already and will try to update regularly. Probably every day if I have time! Here we go…
Chapter 1
Esme POV
We'd moved to Portland in Oregon. It's only been nearly 3 years since we left Bella. 2 years ago, we visited Forks, and visited Charlie. He explained that she'd died... She hadn't been living at his house since 1 month after we left and 1 year ago her truck was found on fire at the bottom of a cliff. There was no trace of her body, but she was in the truck. Her blood was found, her body had just been disintegrated. The strange and heart-breaking thing was that Charlie didn't even seem to care. We all had a feeling he was hiding something though.
We all miss her dearly. I lost a child, an amazing, beautiful daughter. As did Carlisle. Alice, Jasper, Emmett lost a sister... Rosalie even misses her. And Edward... He lost a lover. He was depressed anyway, but when he found this news, he didn't talk, hunt... he just didn't do anything.
The children were starting school; Carlisle had gotten a job at the local hospital. And I had gotten a job, for a change. I had got a job at a local day-care. I needed to give my motherly instincts to someone so a job taking care of children, just felt right.
Work started at 8, and I finished at 5pm. I said bye to my family and then headed off. The day-care was small, but nice. It just looked like a house from the outside, apart from the sun painted on the windows, and tiny handprints on the door. I smiled; I could hear children laughing already, and babies gurgling. I walked up to the steps and knocked gently on the door.
A friendly looking woman answered, smiling when she saw me.
"Hello! Oh, do come in. You must be Esme, yes?" She asked and I nodded slowly. I walked into the entrance hall, looking at the children's drawings and paintings on the wall.
"I'm Katie, and im the manager." She said, she looked about 21.
I smiled and nodded. She guided me into the first door that was on the right, revealing a small room, and about 4 children, who looked about 2, were playing with toys on the floor.
"Hello beautiful." I said, kneeling down to a shy looking girl on the floor. She smiled back at me. She had beautiful long blonde curls and looked about 2 ½.
"That's Molly, this is Joshua, Alfie and that's Polly." She said, pointing out the curious children. "Oh, and this is Amanda and Stacey you'll be working with them today."
"Nice to meet you both" I said, and shook their hands; I was too busy staring at the toddlers who were staring curiously.
"Nice to meet you too, it's Esme, right?" She asked and I nodded. We were interrupted by the doorbell. Katie walked out of the room, saying something about a baby.
"Is Isla here today, Stacey?" Amanda asked, turning to Stacey. Stacey's eyes lit up, and I watched curiously.
"Oh, I hope so." Stacey said.
"Who is Isla?" I asked politely.
"Oh, she's one of the toddlers. She's just turned 2 and she's the most beautiful child ever. Her eyes..." Stacey said, trailing off.
"I think she comes on Mondays, I can't remember." Amanda said.
The doorbell went a few more times in the next 15 minutes, and a few more children came into the room. There was Eva, Peter, Madison and Callum now. They were all fascinated by me; obviously it was rare for there to be someone new working here.
"Read me a book please?" Eva said.
"Of course dear, why don't you go and find one from in the shelf over there?" I pointed out a shelf in the corner and she skipped over to get one. Eva was cute, she was probably about 3. She could speak pretty well for her age.
"And she was at the supermarket; she had a double pram... I didn't know Isla has a brother." I heard Stacey say and I was instantly curious to find out more about this mysterious child.
"Yeah she does. Can't think of his name though. He's only 11 months or something." Amanda said.
"She makes beautiful kids though. Who's the man..?" Stacey said.
"God knows, she wrote on her application form for day-care that she was single. She doesn't need the man to make them beautiful though, does she?" Amanda replied.
"What do you mean?"
"Gosh, have you seen her?" Amanda started. "She's beautiful. She must only be about 22 but she's gorgeous. She kind of looks like Esme…" She trailed off.
She looked like me, was she one of our kind? No, no Esme. That isn't possible... we can't have children.
I shook that thought out of my head and continued to read the book to Eva. She was looking at the pictures, and listening to my voice.
I heard the doorbell go and I heard some little footsteps walk into the hallway. I saw Stacey walk out of the room.
"So, what brought you here for a job?" Amanda asked, making conversation as she painted a child's hand to make a handprint on paper.
"My family just moved here from Alaska... I've got adopted children but I can't have children... And I've always loved them. It just felt right to get a job here."
"That's sweet. I always wanted to work with kids when I was in college. I'm only 20, but I got offered a job here when I left, and its good money and the kids are sweet." She said, now stamping Joshua's tiny hand to the paper while he giggled.
I smiled at that. I loved babies, I loved kids, but babies reminded me of my little boy...
Stacey came in the door, carrying a small girl.
"Here's Isla!" She said, placing her on the floor.
Isla (A/N – for those who aren't sure, its pronounced EYE-LA ahha. I thought it was a beautiful name!) Looked around, and her eyes landed on me and she hobbled over to me.
"Hello Isla, aren't you beautiful?" I said to her.
She looked at me curiously before blushing slightly. She walked over to the baby dolls, grabbed one and put it in one of the prams, the pushed it over to me.
"My Baby." She said, in a bell like voice. Her lack of words proved she must have been only about 25 months old, just 2 years old. She took of the dolls clothes and grabbed a dress from the clothes box. She concentrated on putting the dolls clothes on but she was having trouble. I grinned and she looked up, frustrated. I laughed at her expression.
"Would you like me to help you?" I asked and she nodded and took her hands away from the doll.
I buttoned up the dolls dress and handed it back to her.
"Thank you." She said, in a sweet baby voice. She stood up, and waddled over to the baby pram, and put the baby in.
She put her hands on the handles and pushed the baby around the room.
She did this for a while. I just watched her, marvelling her beauty. She had curly brown hair, it was about shoulder length, but it had hints of blonde in it, almost like highlights. It was real baby hair, the kind you see on 'perfect' babies in the movies.
She had beautiful red lips, and her cheeks were a little rosy. Her eyes were wide, brown. They were a lovely colour; they reminded me of Bella… I shook my head, getting the thoughts of her out of my head. I couldn't get upset now.
Isla was talking to Amanda, who was asking her questions in a childlike tone.
"Where's mommy, Isla?" She asked her.
"Mommy is at work." She replied, in her baby voice.
"Where's Daddy?" She asked. Stacey glared at her.
"She doesn't have one." Stacey hissed. "You can't ask her that!"
Isla was staring at Amanda, her head slightly tilted.
"Gone." Isla whispered, and then walked over to Alfie to play with the blocks. I instantly felt bad for her. She was only 2, but she seemed to understand.
"You shouldn't have asked her that, Idiot." Stacey whispered, so the kids didn't hear. I just pretended to be busy playing with Polly, who was sat in front of me.
"I know, I didn't think she'd understand." Amanda shrugged.
They left it there. 7 more children showed up, named William, Sadie, Lily, Connie, Lewis, George and Delilah. There were now 16 toddlers in the room. It was about 9:30 now, and Amanda had finished making Finger paintings with the children, and was now tidying it away.
A woman came in the room, she was about 30, and she was carrying a tray, with a load of Sippy cups and a big plate of toast. Stacey took it of her and placed it on the windowsill and Isla jumped up happily.
"Toastie!" She screamed delightfully and clapped her hands.
"Everyone sit down on the carpet!" Amanda said. I stood up of the carpet to make room for the children.
"Polly, Joshua, go and sit down!" Stacey told them.
"You can sit on the carpet with them, Esme." Amanda said. "We'll go and wash the paint stuff up."
They left the room. I smiled at the sight of the 16 toddlers smiling up at me.
They sipped on their juice quietly.
Isla was chewing on her toast, muttering to herself. This particular child interested me and I had no idea why.
"Louie...Louie...Mommy." She muttered.
"Who's Louie?" I asked her softly.
"Louie…" She murmured and smiled.
They had all finished their juice and toast when Stacey and Amanda came in. They let them play for a while before they put all of their shoes on and went to get their coats from the hallway.
"We let them play outside before they have their lunch, then they have a nap." Stacey explained.
I nodded, and then helped put some of their coats on.
"Have you seen this!?" Amanda said, she was putting on Isla's coat.
"What?" I asked, zipping up Alfie's jacket.
"This coat must have been so expensive. It's Armani. Who buys that for a 2 year old?!"
"Obviously her mom." Stacey said, shrugging.
They all had their coats on now. Isla was holding my hand, as she stepped down the steps to the outdoor play area. Her face lit up and she ran to get on one of the trikes. The other children were playing on the slide, trikes, balls and other toys in the small garden.
Stacey and Amanda were sat on a bench, watching them play, so I did the same, sitting next to them.
"Louie! Louie! Louie!" I heard Isla shouting and saw she was pointing up to the window of the building. I looked to see a woman, around 25, holding a beautiful boy, he must have been about 11 months old, and he looked just like Isla. Isla was waving and clapping her hands together, stood on the top of the slide. I watched as the baby, Louie, watched Isla waving at him. I could see he was giggling softly. So, that's who her brother was.
Then it all happened so fast.
The woman holding Louie put him down and Isla looked away and continued to play. She was still stood at the top of the slide, William stood behind her. She crouching down to sit, and slide down when William got impatient, and pushed her.
I heard Stacey and Amanda gasp like me, as we watched Isla fall face first from the top of the 4 foot slide. She slid down; face first and her head made a thump as it made contact with the floor. The children stopped playing and watched.
Amanda ran to William to tell him off and Stacey and I ran to Isla to see if she was okay. She was crying loudly, loud enough for 2 women who I didn't know to come out of the day-care. They ran towards us, seeing what was going on. We turned Isla round, to see what the damage was but kept her lying on the floor. She was sobbing loudly now. My heart broke for her, I didn't know this child but I felt so bad.
Her nose was turning blue, and it was bleeding heavily. It was probably broken, I could tell that. I was holding my breath. She was going to have a black eye in the morning. She had a graze down her forehead, and a split lip. Stacey sighed.
"Carry her inside, would you Esme?" She asked me and I picked her up, and stroked her curls.
I sat on the chair in the bathroom, while Stacey and Amanda looked through the first aid box.
"We should call her Mom, she'll need to know." Stacey said, going into the hallway. She came back with a contact book.
I still had Isla on my lap, who was still crying softly. I stroked her hair gently and she relaxed a little, still hiccupping and sniffling.
"Momma..." She whimpered.
"I know, Isla…" I said "She'll be coming for you in a bit, okay?"
She nodded slowly. Amanda had given me a tissue to hopefully stop the bleeding in her nose. She screamed when I applied pressure, making Amanda and Stacey jump.
"I think her nose is broken..." I said sadly, and applied a bit less pressure onto her nose.
"Poor girl..." Stacey said, while looking through the contact book.
"What's her mom going to do anyway, Stace?" Amanda asked.
"She need to go to the hospital, her lip and nose are a right mess. And she banged her head pretty hard." Stacey said while typing in a number on the phone from the wall.
"Hello? Is that Isabella Swan?"
What?
Let me know what you all thought! Sorry to leave it on a cliff hanger – Next chapter will be up tomorrow