Chapter One: Meet the girls
Benjamin Gates and his wife Abigail stood at the entrance to Gate Seven at BWI. They Waited patiently for flight 203 from Forks, Washington to land. Riley, however, sat impatiently on his laptop in a near by chair.
"How long is this going to take Ben?! We've been waiting for over an hour." Abigail rolled her eyes as she pulled on her light blue blouse, subconsciously straightening it out as she shifted her position.
"Look, Riley we didn't know the flight would be delayed! Now they said it would be landing soon enough so just calm down and play with you computer!" Abigail laughed at Riley's pouted expression. Soon people began to file out of the terminal. Abigail excitedly tugged on Ben's jacket for him to see. They searched the crowd of people looking all over. Soon they saw two identical girls walk out together.
"AUNT ABIGAIL!" they yelled once they spotted her. The two girls ran towards Abigail almost taking her to the ground. Riley's jaw dropped.
"Twins Ben? Twins, you have got to be kiddin' me." Ben shrugged.
"Hey, their only ten years old, what's the worst that can happen?" Abigail had missed their conversation. She had been eyeing her two nieces.
"God look at you two! Last time I saw you Max and Jo...you had to be at least five or six! Wow! Jo you even let your hair grow out! Max your curls look divine! Wait...where's Neely?" Riley did a double take.
"There's another one! How old is she?" Ben smiled crookedly. He was about to answer when Abigail let out a shriek of joy.
"NEELY!" She embraced her other niece. Riley stopped complaining and stared at the girl. She was tall and appeared to be about nineteen or twenty. Her hair was brown like the twins, but with high lights of blond and straighter. Her frame was very slender and toned, almost as if she was a runner. Her lips were full and a broad smile stretched from ear to ear as she embraced her aunt. She was wearing a velvet red tank top under a Letterman Jacket from Forks area high school and a strange necklace.
When she opened her eyes to look at her aunt and uncle, Riley noticed that they were the most beautiful shade of green he had ever seen. Ben and Neely began talking about school and what not as Riley stared over his computer screen. One of the twins pushed the screen down.
"Hey!" Riley growled. No one touched his computer except him. The others stopped to look at them.
"Uncle Ben, is this Riley? The one who helped you find that treasure?!" One exclaimed. The other looked at him then gave a surprised expression.
"Yeah! That's the One Neely said was cute!" Neely punched her in the arm.
"Shut-up Jo!" She said under her breath. Riley smiled. Ben and Abigail exchanged a knowing look and began to depart with the group.
"Come on guys; let's head back to the Manor." Abigail said while she wrapped her arms around the twins. Ben put an arm around Neely and she around his waist.
"I missed you Uncle Ben! Find any good clues lately?" Ben smiled and gave a small laugh.
"Only the one's your aunt leaves for me, and they lead to something entirely different than gold or riches." Neely made a gross face as she pushed him playfully.
"Ugh! Don't say anything else I got it Uncle Ben!" Riley laughed. Neely briefly looked back at him, but quickly diverted her eyes.
After the group picked up their luggage they all went to Ben's jeep and piled in. Riley and Neely in the far back, the twins in front of them in the two individual seats, Ben in the drivers and Abigail in shotgun.
The twins bickered off and on for the duration of the trip, while Neely began to fall asleep. 10 hours on a flight with her ten year old sisters is pretty tiring. Riley listened and laughed at the twins antics. Once they finally quieted down, he tapped the one in front of him on the shoulder.
"What are your names again?" He said to them both. He didn't realize that Neely had slumped over on the window.
"My names Leila Josephina Anastasia Chase, but everyone calls me Jo. I'm named after the Romanov daughter Anastasia." The one in front of his said. Her hair was only slightly straighter than her twin's and darker.
"Well, my name is Annabelle Maxaya Lorraine Chase, but you can call me Max. I'm named after Lorraine Hansbury, a famous play writer!" Jo stuck her tongue out at her.
"Well at least mine wasn't executed! You're named after a girl who was shot and stabbed to death, so there!" Jo rolled her eyes.
"At least I'm not a Paris Hilton wannabe! All you care about is you style...or lack of one!" Max was about to retort when Ben shut them up.
"Hey! Stop fighting or you two will loose all the nice things we bought you! You'll just sleep in bare white guest bedrooms instead of the ones we designed for you! Now stop bickering!" Abigail put a soothing hand on his shoulder.
"Ben that threat will only work on Max. Jo will only care if you take away her skateboard." Jo and Max gasped and sat forward.
"Please don't take away my room/board!" They say simultaneously. Riley chuckled. Ten year olds were actually pretty amusing. Neely shifter her position in her sleep and was now cuddling on Riley's shoulder. He instantly froze. The twins turned around and giggled.
"Looks like she's over Emmett already." Jo slapped her on the arm, and leaned in close.
"Max! We're not supposed to mention him! Or the rest of them." Max rolled her eyes.
"She can't hear us; she's got her ipod on! And plus, they don't know about... the Cullens." Riley leaned in closer so they could talk. Ben and Abigail had their classical music on, so they couldn't hear them at all.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down. Who are the Cullens?" Jo and Max exchanged a look. Jo's was of worry and Max of amusement. She turned around to fully face Riley.
"Okay so, you know our parents died when we were eight?" Riley nodded. Jo and max briefly showed a look of pain when the though about their parents death. Max continued.
(Max) "Well, the first thing we did was go to our mother's family, our uncle Charlie, who lived in Forks Washington. His daughter Bella, she had come to live with him also. Her and Neely were both seventeen at the time so they entered Forks high school as juniors-" They began to switch of the conversation.
(Jo) "-That's when they met...the Cullens. They were soooo creepy at first, they had ghostly pale skin and they were always so cold. But after we got to know they, they were the best people we could ever meet.-"
(Max)"-You see, Dr. Carlisle Cullen and his wife Esme, They adopted the first three, Alice, Edward and Emmett when they were young then they adopted Jasper and Rosalie Hale. Emmett was always the big one. He was like super strong-"
(Jo) "Yeah, like this one time, he picked up both up in his arms and slung us over his shoulders. But, Emmett was real sensitive. He was always there for Neely-"
(Max)"-Yeah, even when she acted like a big baby. Edward was like the baby boy of their little clan. he was the smallest, even smaller than Jasper, and definitely the cutest. He and Bella started going out. I mean really going out-"
(Jo) "-He was constantly at our house. And after Rosalie was..." She trailed off. Max put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.
"We were pretty close with all the Cullens, Alice was our favorite. She hung out with us more than Neely or even Bella. But, she and Rosalie got in a fight. Rosalie was always the most pig headed and shallow one in the bunch, all she cared about was her looks. I admired her for her beauty, but she was always focused on herself. So, after Alice and Rosalie fought, it was over Bella and Edward, Rosalie disappeared for awhile. Emmett was deeply disturbed by this and went to look for her. After about a month and a half...he came back...he found her in Rome...but Rosalie was dead." Riley's eyes widened.
"What do you mean did she kill herself? Did he bring back her remains?" The girls exchanged a look.
"Well, he brought back some remains, Ashes to be exact. He said she had to be cremated; the state she was in was too terrible to bring back for Esme to see. After that he started coming over even more. More than Edward, although, Edward would sneak in at night...Uncle Charlie never knew, but we found out and Neely made us swear not to tell a soul. Oh...wait." She gave a weak smile.
"I guess we just told." Jo slapped Max in the arm.
"What do you mean us?" Max shook her head.
"Why would Neely make you swear if Bella was the one going out with Edward?" Riley pried. But before the girls could answer, Ben had stopped the car and turned off the ignition. They were home.
"Well it doesn't matter because Bella and Neely will never see them again." Max said quickly under her breath.
Riley turned towards Neely, who was still asleep on his shoulder. The twins were already out of the car and helping Ben and Abigail with the bags.
"Neely? Neely wake up." Riley slowly removed her head phones and shook her slightly. She groaned and stretched.
"Emmett?" She smiled as she slowly opened her eyes. Her smile disappeared when she saw it wasn't him.
"Oh, sorry Riley." He smiled. But then remembered that he wasn't supposed to know who Emmett, let alone who the Cullens are.
"Who's Emmett?" Neely pushed her way out of the back seat and began to get out.
"He's my ex-boyfriend." She mumbled on her way out.