Chapter 2
EsPOV
"Now grab your toes and then pull and you should be in this stance," Alice said in a defiant voice, "then as the music comes to this part we spin on the Pointe shoes and then bring your feet together and crouch down on the floor."
Bella and Rosalie were following her orders, learning a new Ballet routine whilst Alice was doing the moves and pointing out any faults in the way they
"Then we push off the floor and jetait (A/N any French dance {ballet etc.} words that are spelt incorrect, I am sorry), land and then do an intendante pirouette and finish in your own position." They followed quickly making sure their backs and arms were in the right position.
The music slowly came to an end with my three girls all standing in different complimenting positions.
I got the girls started in Ballet at the age of nine. All of my girls for some unfair reason have had some tragedy in their life no matter how great or small.
At the age of nine due to her horrible clumsiness Bella fell down three flights of stairs out a window and then a one storey fall. Me the worrying mother knew immediately that she needed to get rid of that clumsy streak in her and get her coordinated before there was an even worse accident.
So I told Bella that she was to start up Dance classes to help her, and of course she wouldn't go unless Rosalie and Alice came with her.
So now my three beautiful girls were also elegant swans. Having graduated in each class: Jazz, Ballet, Hip Hop, Funk, Contemporary, Tap and Ballroom; only at the age of 17.
Now they were 19 years old and starting College very soon. My wonderful girls had all been accepted to Dartmouth. (Note for the future: I'm Australian so anything that I type about Dartmouth {even the spelling!} is incorrect... well I don't know the American system!)
Unfortunately I couldn't get the girls in a dorm together so I bought a house just outside of campus for them. It holds six people so I put up an advertisement asking if anybody starting at Dartmouth this year would like to pay half of the expenses. But before that happened we had to meet the family or guests, of course.
My phone started to ring.
"Hello, Esme here," I said brightly into the phone.
"Hello this is Carlisle Cullen. I'm calling up to see if your offer of three more people sharing the house." It was the most appealing voice that I have heard in a very long time.
"Oh yes, I had a few offers but I was a little bit unsure of them," I said casually. Actually I haven't had any offers yet he was the first one, but it's a good sales technique – make them think that you are wanted.
"Well, I saw the house and it looks beautiful. My boys would really like to stay there," boys? What boys?
"What exactly do you mean by boys?"
"My three sons. Edward, Emmett and Jasper. They're 19 this year because they had a year off to go travelling," I could hear in his voice that he was very proud of them.
"Well I wasn't expecting that. When is the next about thirty minute space that you have that you are free. I self employed so I'm free for most of the week," I needed to book something immediately if my girls were going to be in a house with three 19 year old boys. I needed to make sure that they were trustworthy; I trust my girls but not three faceless young boys.
"Well actually I'm a very busy person you see, I'm a doctor –" a doctor. Wow, "- and the only free space that I have for this week, lots of patients, is tonight after 7.00, are you ok with that," he paused for a second, "If that is not too soon of course," he sound very concerned for a second.
"Oh tonight is ok, say 8.00?" for some strange reason I was getting all giddy like I did when I was a 15 year old girl, this man was bringing the inner teenage out of me.
"Sounds good to me, see you then," he gave me his address and I quickly saved it into my iPhone.
"Yeah, see you," that was all I could say. As I said before it was like when Richard asked me out back in Junior High, I was so hopeless. (A/N In Aus. we have primary school [usually ages 5 – 12] and High school [usually ages 12 – 18] and whatever you want to do after you graduate {University, TAFE, a 'gap' year or work}, the American system, to me, is so confusing!)
I hung up the phone and something dawned on me. What was I going to wear? After all I was Alice's mother.
CPOV
I had just hung up with the most attractive voice of a woman.
And she was coming over to my house in one and a half hours. Shit.
I started to freak like I would whenever I was picking up a girl from her house to take her to a dance or whatever in Junior High.
I had to tell the boys.
"Emmett! Jasper! Edward! I want you all to stop what you are doing and come here immediately!" I shouted up the stairs. I was so nervous.
"Dad, it wasn't my fault that the crystal wine glasses broke. Edward pushed me!" Emmett rambled on.
"Did not!" Edward shouted, "You were the one that was juggling them!"
"I don't care about that! Wait. We don't have any wine glasses? Shit, Shit, Shit," I really needed to calm down, "Ok Emmett your punishment is that you have to get me some new crystal wine glasses before 8.00 tonight. And I want real ones not cocktail glasses or beer cans," well, that fixed the problem of not being able to serve wine to an attractive woman with impressive wine glasses. Well I hope that she is attractive, I mean her voice was... amazing and I swear there was something going on between us in that short conversation.
"Dad?" Jasper spoke up, "is everything ok?"
"Ok boys, here's the thing. You know that add about the house outside of campus at Dartmouth? Well I rang the lady."
"So?" they all asked at the same time.
"She had an amazing voice and sounded really attractive and I really need to impress her. She is coming over. Tonight. At 8.00. that's in," I checked my watch, "one hour and fifteen minutes." Shiiiit!
"Oh! We get what going on...." said Emmett slyly. I was not in the mood for this I needed to get things moving fast.
"Did I mention that if you make a good impression you'll be staying with three 18 year old triplets?" That should do it.
"What do you want me to do?" Emmett said eagerly.
EsPOV
It had been 15 minutes already and I was still in my bath robe staring blankly at my wardrobe. I had to get backup.
"Alice? Bella? Rosalie? I need you urgently!" They all came rushing in.
"What is it mum?" said Bella worriedly.
"Well I'm going to go see one of the candidates for the house that we bought and well long story short. I'm seeing him tonight at 8.00 and according to the way his voice sounded; he's a GOD among men."
Alice's eyes widened. Bella's mouth dropped. Rosalie's lips crept into a smug smile.
"Well," Alice said, "What look are you going for?" Bella went over to my bathroom and got out all of these hair products and implements and Rosalie went and got my makeup kit.
"Well I want to go for: Elegant but still authoritive but not too stern. I want to look my age but like I still have it in me, if you know what I mean."
"I have the perfect idea"
She ran into my wardrobe, then to hers, then to Rosalie's then to Bella's. We are all relatively the same size. Except Rosalie has longer legs and a slightly larger bust and hips with a smaller waist. Alice is smaller in most sizes and Bella is a little narrower built. But apart from that they are all built like their mama.
She came back with my high waisted skirt. Black mid-thigh stockings. Black stilettos. A blue silk blouse that matches my eyes. And a black three-quarter trench coat.
I quickly got dressed and then Bella and Rosalie quickly grabbed me and pushed me into a chair. Rosalie started touching up my face with foundation then she added a light blush to my cheek bones. She was going for natural. Some mascara to frame my eyes and a lipstick that matched my lip colour. Whilst all of that was going on Bella had gotten out the curling tongs and was curling my caramel hair into large soft curls that matched the type of blouse I was wearing.
It was perfect.
Alice handed me my dark blue Gucci bag I looked in it and she had packed everything I needed. Which included: my iPhone, my purse, water, contact book and some pictures of the girls and one with me and them.
She handed me my locket that I had taken off for the shower and some white gold sapphire earrings that matched (I'm changing the locket to a White gold one).
I looked at my watch and realised that it was time to go.
I hopped into my Italian scooter which I use when the weather was good. Tonight was a good night. If not I probably would have taken Rosalie's M3.
I touched the locket that was hanging around my neck for luck, "wish me luck girls," I said in a confident voice.
"Good luck!" Rosalie and Bella chimed.
I turned to Alice she had a dazed look in her eyes I had only seen that look twice before. Right before Bella and Rosalie had those tragic accidents. Oh my.
But instead of the grimace that usually came after a huge genuine smile crossed her face.
"You don't need luck mum, I have a very good feeling about this," I'm sure that the smile I returned was just as big as hers.
CPOV
The boys and I had cleaned up everything until it was sparkling. As soon as I told Emmett who he would, could be staying with he had rushed out of the house to get the wine glasses.
Jasper and Edward were playing it cool, but I could tell that they were excited. I couldn't blame them, they were boys.
So I rushed the boys upstairs for them to get changed out of their tracksuit pants and smelly football shirts; as I said, I couldn't blame them; to get into clothes that were more respectable clothes that you would want to be seen in around a kind lady, my age.
So we were all set to go and Emmett could not sit still, neither could I. He gets it from his dad.
EsPOV
As I was going to Carlisle's house I thought about the things that have happened to my lovely daughters. I suppose this runs in my blood.
Bella's was first, falling through that glass window, almost dying.
Then came Alice, at the age of 16. My daughter loved parties. I let her going telling her to call me as soon as anything happened. It was at this guy Mike's house. So she went there looking gorgeous as usual, I was a little unsure about the length of her skirt though. I was unsure about the whole entire thing actually. But I thought that you can't hold on to them for too long and I went to parties when I was young and nothing happened. Then later that night I get a call from the police. 1.17am to be exact. Her drink had been spiked and she was found out a street passed out completely. She had been beaten. Badly. I woke the girls up and went there immediately. She looked so vulnerable lying on the hospital bed, she was completely knocked out. They had pumped her stomach and then put her in a temporary medically induced coma to help her body recover from the traumatic experience she had gone though. She was out for three days. Rosalie, Bella and I never left the room.
Rosalie's was the last, at the age of 17. She got her first serious boyfriend. He told her he loved her and she fell for it. Hard. I knew something was off, one time Bella was standing in his way for a photo so he grabbed her by the wrist, a little bit too hard, and pulled her out of the way, she fell to the ground. He said he didn't mean to do it. I found out six months later that my precious Rosalie was in an abusive relationship, from the first month in. She thought it was her fault. We got her over it. It made her stronger, harder; but of course that had its affects. This made her harder to get to, doubting everything around her.
That's what makes us so strong. We helped each other get through the bad things in life. We were together in this.
I arrived at the house. Grabbed my bag, held my head high, and walked along the path leading to the door. It was a beautiful house. I could tell that it was designed by a very good architect.
CPOV
I was looking out the front window. A scooter pulled up outside the house a lady hopped off. She had a beautiful hair colour; you could tell that it was real. It fell in soft curls she wore a black trench and was holding a blue bag. She looked determined and confident. She walked down the pathway to the front door.
It was her.
I heard the doorbell chime and I ran down the stairs to answer the door. I could hear the boys laughing from behind me.
"Love is never too late boys!"
EsPOV
"Love is never too late boys!" it was him, I could tell by the voice. I could hear more laughing from behind the door. Was he talking about me? No... I shouldn't get my hopes up. The door opened.
Wow.
His voice had nothing to compare to him in person.
Those eyes would be the last thing that I see when I take my last breath. They were beautiful. This striking emerald green. He also smelt really good. You could tell that he worked out. Damn.
CPOV
I opened the door.
Oh my.
Her voice and her body walking across the front yard had nothing compared to seeing her right in front of me. Her hair was shining and health. Her face was not to out there, strong though. She had the most beautiful smile on, it was stunning. But all of that was nothing compared to her eyes. I could look at them for forever. I mean look at them and completely forget about the fact that I have to breath, keep my heart beating.
"Hello, I'm Esme," her voice was beautiful. She held out my hand for me to shake it.
I took her hand and kissed it like the gentleman I was.
"Carlisle, enchanté fais votre connaissance," I truly was enchanted by her presence.
"Moi aussi," she spoke French. The woman of my dreams was standing in front of me.
"Parlez-vous Français?" I had to know.
"Un peu. C'est un passé-temps." She does it as a hobby, intéressant.
"Très bien, moi aussi. Vous voudriez rencontrer les garçons? On y va?"
"Let's"
"Would you like for me to take your coat?"
"Oh yes please, it's very warm in here," I freaked for a moment, was she too hot? "but nice, comfortable."
I walked her down the hallway and into the main living room, the boys were waiting there quietly, trying to hide the smirks on their faces.
"This is a lovely home you have, it's so open but not too big, just the right size." Her eyes scanned the room, a slight smile on her face.
"We had an architect design it but I chose all of the furniture and the boys and I did the painting," that was fun, we all ended up covered it paint. It took us a very long time to actually finish the house, then have very long showers afterwards.
"Where did you go to get the furniture," she looked as though she was trying to figure it out.
"BEAR, you know I never get the name of that company," I truly didn't. They called it BEAR but their logo wasn't even one, it was flowers; a rose, a lily, a freesia and an orchid.
"Bella, Esme, Alice and Rosalie," she said.
"What?"
"Bella, Esme, Alice and Rosalie, that's what it stands for," how did she know?
"Only the creator of the company is supposed to know,"
"That's why I know," what?
"You're the creator of BEAR?" I was so confused.
"Yes, nice to see what you have done with my work," She looked around the house appreciatively.
She spoke French, was stunning, was a mother, had very nice manners, brilliant fashion sense and ran and founded her own company. What next, she's in love with me too? I stopped myself on this thought. Was I actually, already falling for this goddess standing beside me? I thought best not to think about it too much.
"I love your work, very elegant. It is good to know what it stands for. Are those the names of your daughters and you?" good recovery.
"Yes they turned last year, nineteen in a few more months. They are triplets, we are all very close," her eyes brightened at the mention of her daughters, wasn't she a little young to have three 18 year old daughters? Well I can't be hypocritical, I took my boys in at the age of 20. Wait if she has daughters, they must have a father then...
"Is there a Mr. in the household of Esme?" please say no, please say no.
"No, I'm a single mother. I had the girls at nineteen, you see, the father didn't want to take on that responsibility." He left her at the age of nineteen with three girls?
"A very stupid man, I have no idea why someone would do that to such a beautiful woman like you," she blushed, actually blushed. I am going to faint. Stop it Carlisle you're acting like a pansy!
"Thank you, I've always wanted children. I suppose it just happened earlier than usual." she turned to the boys who had much more evident smirks on their faces. "This must be Edward, Emmett and Jasper."
They boys each nodded when their names were said.
"Very nice to meet you," Esme said, "so the reason that I came here was to see if the boys were suitable to stay with my girls for the time that they spend at Dartmouth, congratulations on getting in by the way." The boys smiled.
"So I am just going to ask you some questions, then if that is ok see the house, you can tell a lot about people from their rooms and houses, I would know."