Again, all characters belong to the incredible Stephenie Meyer. I own nothing of great value.
Emmett helped Bella from the Jeep. She wobbled a little before he steadied her.
"You're still half-asleep, aren't you?" He laughed that deep laugh of his.
"Maybe," she mumbled groggily. "Are we there yet?"
He ruffled her hair. "Yup."
A shrill scream pierced Bella's brain and before she could react, she was tackled by a blur of spiky black pixieness. "Bella! You're here!"
This had to be Alice. She had been warned by Esme that Alice was a little rambunctious.
"I'm so happy you're here! We're going to be the best of friends!"
"Emmett," Bella croaked. "A little help?" Her ribs were starting to throb again.
Bella was forever grateful that her older brother was the big guy that he was. Even though she was far from slim, he had always been able to carry her. Only three years separated them but instead of looking eighteen, sometimes he looked twenty-five.
Emmett smiled at her as he helped her to her feet. Alice was bouncing around in circles around them.
A young and stunningly beautiful-looking couple stepped off the enormous porch and approached them. "Bella! Love, come here." Esme said as she pulled her into a tight motherly hug. Bella's breath caught and wasn't sure if it was the memory of hugging her own mother or the pain in her ribs that made her want to cry more. "Welcome home baby girl!"
"Thanks Mrs. Cullen." Bella mumbled into her bronze hair. She felt a lump in her throat when Esme pulled back and fixed her green eyes on Bella's big browns.
"Please Bella, call me Esme." Bella was sure Esme knew her shame, or at least some of it. No one knew it all; in fact, they only knew a tiny fraction of the hell she'd endured.
Carlisle moved over to her next. His kind eyes, unlike his wife's, betrayed no pity, only quiet understanding, and compassion.
Esme spoke up. "Please come in. We'll have dinner before we show you to your place."
Our place? Bella thought.
Emmett vocalized her thought. "What place?"
"We'll explain over dinner. Alice, quit bouncing and fetch Edward, will you?"
Alice bounded up the stairs ahead of them.
"Welcome and please make yourselves at home," Esme said as she gave them a quick tour of the first floor.
The Cullens' house was unlike anything Bella had ever seen outside of a magazine. It was the size of a mansion and instead of exterior walls it seemed the house was made entirely of glass. The living room was larger than the entire first floor of Bella and Emmett's childhood home back in Phoenix. The TV was almost as big as a movie theatre screen. There was an entire wall of DVDs, video games and CDs.
She shook her head in awe as Esme led her to the dining room. The massive wood table was set to the nines: linen table runner, linen placemats and napkins, real silver cutlery, silver candelabra ...
"Bella dear, please take a seat. I'll go get the food."
"Esme," she said quietly. "Can I help you?"
"You've had a long day, sweetie, why don't you sit and rest."
She stood up. "Please?"
Esme smiled at her. "If you want to, I'd be honoured."
Bella doubted that, but the need to be close to her mother's best friend was strong. The feeling of safety was overwhelming. She stood beside Esme who took her hand and led her to the kitchen while Carlisle and Emmett remained chatting at the table.
"How're you doing, sweetie?"
She stopped in her tracks and exhaled loudly at the vision before her. "Beautiful," she muttered.
"What's beautiful dear?"
"This."
"The kitchen?" Esme giggled.
"Heaven," Bella said as she tried to take it all in. Two walls of the expansive culinary wet dream kitchen were glass, allowing what little bit of light getting through the heavy mist and fog to shimmer off the stainless steel appliances.
"Do you enjoy cooking?"
"What? Oh," Bella's mood suddenly changed. "I used to."
"Please feel free to invade our kitchen any time you like."
"Thanks," she said as she stared down at her ripped Chucks.
"Can you grab the potatoes and gravy? I'll bring the vegetables. Edward?"
The sound of Esme yelling for her son made Bella jump.
"Edward, sweetheart, can you please bring the roast to the table?"
"Sure, mom.
Bella gasped when she turned around and nearly dropped the bowl and gravy boat she was carrying. Before her stood the most beautiful boy she'd ever seen. He had his mother's stunning green eyes and bronze hair, but seemed to have his father's physique. He smiled at her.
"You must be Bella. I'm Edward. I'd offer a hand, but mine are currently full."
She couldn't speak. She just nodded and turned her gaze back to her ragged sneakers.
Edward motioned toward the dining room. "Shall we?"
"Uh, sure."
Thankfully they made it to the table without Bella dropping anything. Dinner was lively, yet Bella chose to remain quiet. She picked absently at her food while the others spoke. She dared to look up once and found the green-eyed god smiling at her. Quickly, she looked back down at the arrangement of green beans on her plate.
"Bella dear, is there something wrong? You've barely touched your dinner. Are you feeling okay?"
Conscious that everyone was starting at her, she tried to hide the blush creeping up her cheeks. "No," she said so quietly she wasn't sure anyone heard her. "I'm just tired."
"Of course you are. I'm sorry. Would you like me to show you to your place?"
Emmett spoke up. "You keep saying 'our place'. You mean our rooms, right?"
Esme beamed, as did Alice. "Well, seeing as you two had been living on your own for the past year and were unlikely to be used to constant parental involvement, we redid a little cottage on the property. It's just out back so you're close enough if you need us, but you'll have your privacy. Of course we'll ask that you come join us for dinner every night."
"Are you serious Esme? You really didn't have to."
"Say no more Emmett. Esme is an interior designer and is always looking for a project. She and Alice had been working away at restoring it when we received the call that you'd be coming, so they were more than happy to finish it up." Carlisle said as he looked lovingly at his wife and daughter.
"I hope you'll like it. Of course you're always welcome to hang out here with us," Alice added.
"Alice has been very excited to have another girl here, and I know Edward was looking forward to having a guy around. Now Bella, why don't we go to your place and get you settled in? We've been calling it 'Casa Swan.' Edward honey, why don't you show Emmett the service road down to the cottage so he can drive down with their belongings?"
"Sure thing, Mom."
Esme took Bella by the arm and led her out to the back deck where she pointed toward a path. "We just have to go a few feet and we're there."
Bella's head was swimming. She wasn't sure if it was a residual of her brain injury or trying to process everything that was going on.
"Are you sure you're okay, dear?"
"Tired."
"Of course, dear. Let's go."
The cottage, or 'Casa Swan' as they called it, was so far from being what Bella had always pictured a cottage would look like. She had visions of the typical fairy tale stone cottage nestled in a small clearing in the woods. This was not your average cottage by any means. Sure, it was smaller than the main house, but this smaller home was bigger than her childhood home.
The front door opened up into a living room decked out with leather couches and top-of-the-line electronics. The television took up almost an entire wall. Emmett was going to be ecstatic.
Beyond the front room there was a smaller one just before the kitchen. When Esme opened the door, Bella fell backward and landed on her ass, eyes wide open. Edward, who had just carried in a box, quickly dropped it and ran to help her up.
"Bella, are you okay?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah. Wow!" She couldn't believe her eyes.
Esme wrapped her arms around her. I heard that you enjoyed reading."
The room had been turned into a small library. Two walls were lined floor-to-ceiling with books, while a third had an empty bookcase. "I thought you could put the books you brought with you in there," Esme whispered.
Bella's heart broke. She wobbled unsteadily over to the elegant settee situated beside a working propane fireplace and sat, her head coming to rest in her hands.
Esme motioned for a confused Edward to leave the room.
"Dear, what's wrong?"
Bella sobbed. Esme pulled her into a hug. "What is it Bella? Do you not like the room? I'm sorry, I can get rid of the books if you want. I just thought that you'd like a little retreat from your brother, who I would imagine will be monopolizing the living room. I even had it soundproofed..."
"It's perfect," Bella managed between sobs. "How did you know I always wanted a window seat?"
"Your mother always loved the one we had in our dorm. I put it here because this whole room reminds me of Renée. I hoped you would feel the same way."
She looked at Esme, who was crying now. "She would have loved it. I love it. Thank you."
"Let's go to your room. Hopefully you'll like it. Alice kind of took it over; she wanted to give it a teenager's touch."
Oh good lord, thought Bella. It's probably pink and all frou frou.
Surprisingly, it wasn't. It was a light mauve and very understated. The queen-sized bed took up a fair amount of space but there was still room for a beautiful antique roll-top desk, on which sat a brand new laptop.
"Oh Esme, I couldn't," Bella stammered as she ran her hands over the smooth top of the machine. "It's too much."
"That is a welcome gift from Edward."
"It's too much."
"If you think that's too much, you may not want to look in the closet," Alice chirped from behind her.
"The closet?"
Esme shook her head. "It's all returnable if you don't like it, dear. Alice seems to think she can know what people will like and she makes it her life's mission to keep us all well-dressed and in style. I'm afraid she may have gone a little crazy."
With much trepidation, Bella flung open the double French doors to see another entire room, almost the size of her actual bedroom, full of clothes and shoes. Her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach when she realized that these clothes probably wouldn't fit her. She was a size 12 at best, while Alice might be a -12.
The pixie took her hand. "I wasn't sure exactly what size your wear so I took a stab at it."
Bella reached for a soft leather jacket and tried it on. It fit perfectly. "Thank you Alice, really."
The tiny girl wrapped her arms around Bella. "I'm so happy to have a sister my own age. I love you already, Bella."
Alice danced off. There was really no other way to describe it. Bella wondered if they somehow managed to harness some of Alice's energy if they could use it to power a small village somewhere. Bella shook her head and smiled. As if she could read her mind, Esme assured her that she would eventually get used to Alice and her crazy energy.
After showing her the ensuite bathroom and pointing out where Emmett's room was, Esme left her with a new cell phone pre-programmed with each of the Cullens' phone numbers and Emmett's new number.
"If you need anything, sweetie, do not hesitate to call, and please join me for breakfast tomorrow morning, that is, if you want to. No pressure."
"Thank you, Esme. Thank you for everything," Bella said as she hugged her. More than anything, thank you for saving me, she thought as she watched her walk away.