The Twilight Twenty-Five
thetwilight25 dot com
Prompt: # 02
Pen Name: Missus T
Pairing/Character(s): Bella
Rating: T
Word Count: 487
Photo prompts can be found here:
thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts
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I sat on the floor and flipped through the box of pictures I'd found under my parent's bed. They spanned almost thirty years, a mix of scenic shots and group pictures.
Mount Rainier. The Space Needle. Giant Redwood trees. Washington, D.C. and the White House. An unknown beach somewhere. The Pacific coast. A 'Welcome to Arizona' sign. And my mother in front of the Eiffel Tower.
When had Renee gone to Paris?
I held it up for a closer look, then flipped it over to see if there was anything on the back.
Sure enough, my mother's loopy, childish writing identified the date as October of 1979. Two years before my parents had even met.
I tried to imagine my mother then. Would she have been any different than the young, carefree gypsy I had always known? Had she been more responsible before she met Charlie and he started taking care of her or had she simply drifted through life even then?
"Bells?" My father's voice startled me, and I turned to see him standing in the doorway watching me with his eyes full of concern. "What are you doing up here?"
I stood, wiping the dust from my jeans, and held the box towards him. "I found these pictures."
"Oh, wow," he laughed, immediately reaching for the picture of the three of them on a rocky beach outside of La Push when I was about five. "I remember this day. We went for a long walk with the Blacks. Billy was trying out his new camera, and it started raining about two minutes after we took this picture. Your mother had to cram the thing into her big purse to keep it dry. She forgot to give it back, and we had it for weeks."
I stood beside him and studied the picture. I wished we were still that happy family, but wishes meant nothing and my prayers certainly hadn't been answered.
"Daddy, did you know mom went to Paris?" I pulled the picture out of the stack and held it out.
He sighed and smiled sadly. "She always wanted to go back. I can't believe she never told you about it."
"I had no idea. I wish I could ask her." My voice cracked, and my eyes filled with tears. I was so mad at her, but more than that I was pissed at fate. My mom had slipped in and out of our lives for so many years that I'd hardly gotten to know her, and now I never would. The last time I'd visited, she thought I was her sister and asked if I was a spy.
"You should go," Charlie said, nodding and putting his arm around me. "She'd like that, to think that you got to see it in person, too."
"She won't know," I mumbled.
He rubbed my back and kissed the top of my head.
"No, but you will."