BPOV
There was a man standing on the porch. He was holding a little boy in his arms and a little girl was standing next to him holding his hand tightly. When I got out of the car I could see tears in the man's eyes. Based on my latest memory I figure this must be Edward, the little girl must be Elizabeth, and the little boy must be Mason. Edward let go of the little girl's hand.
"Mommy!" She screamed as she ran to me.
When she reached me I instinctively bent down and picked her up. I saw Edward start to walk towards me. When he reached me he used his free hand to pull me into a hug. I didn't even hear the detective drive off. After a minute Edward let me go. I put Elizabeth down but held on to her hand. She pulled me towards the house and Edward followed behind me. When we reached the house Edward put the little boy down and I let go of the little girl's hand.
"Elizabeth go play with your brother." Edward told the kids.
Elizabeth ran off with her brother and left me and Edward alone in the entryway of the house.
I spoke after a minute just to break the awkward silence, "The cop said I have a large family. How large exactly?"
"You don't remember?" He looked surprised.
"James wiped my memory and kept me drugged to make sure it didn't come back. It's starting to come back but only in flashes. I can't make much sense of what I am remembering."
He grabbed my hand and pulled me into the living room. He had me sit down on a plush couch in front of a fireplace with a television mounted above it. On top of the fireplace sat several pictures. He grabbed one with several people in it. Some of the faces looked like the ones I had seen in flashes on my way here.
"This was taken during Christmas one year." He said as he sat down next to me. He held out the picture so I could see, "This is my mother Esme and my father Carlisle." He said as he pointed to a blond man and a redheaded female, "This is my sister Alice and her husband Jasper." He pointed to a short brunette and tall blond, "Your brother Emmett and his wife Rosalie." He said as he pointed to a muscular man and runway ready female. The only other people in the picture were me, Edward, and Elizabeth.
"Do any of them live close?"
"They all live within 10 minutes of here. I don't think I would have made through the past year without them."
"We should invite them over. I can make dinner."
"Are you sure? I don't want you to rush. I want you to take as much time as you need to adjust to this whole situation."
"I'm sure"
"Okay, what time do you want them over?"
"Well, it's about 2:30 now so 4 should be good."
He left the room to make some phone calls and I headed into the kitchen to find something to make. I desperately needed something to get my mind off everything. I started by making homemade breaded parmesan chicken. Once that was done I put water on to boil for noodles and I opened up a couple cans of spaghetti sauce. While waiting for the water to boil and the sauce to warm I started the garlic bread. When the water started boiling I mixed in the noodles and put the warmed sauce on the chicken with some cheese. I put the garlic bread in the oven at the same time. By the time the garlic bread and chicken were done, the noodles were cooked. I could hear people starting to come in the house.
"Edward looks so much better." I heard one woman comment.
"He's been through a lot. I don't think I would have ever recovered. I mean, he could never even really say goodbye." I heard another woman comment.
I cut up the salad quickly. Edward came into the room just as I finished the salad. He grabbed the salad and put it on a rolling cart. It didn't take long to put the rest of the food on a rolling cart. I also put a couple bottles of wine out of the fridge and a pitcher of water along with 4 apple juice filled sippy cups on the cart. Edward had mentioned a couple minutes earlier that Alice and Jasper had a two year old and Rose and Emmett had a 3 year old.
"You know you're going to be ambushed the second you go out there right?"
"Yeah. How much did you tell them?"
"Just that I wanted them to come over for dinner." He gently took one of my hands in his, "Are you ready?"
"I think so."
He walked out first and I followed behind. When I walked into the room all conversation stopped. You could hear a pin drop. I tried to act natural as I gave each of the kids a sippy cup. They all sat around a small children's table in the corner.
Emmett was the first one to speak, "How?" He slowly stood up and walked over to me.
"It's a long story." I said as he reached me and pulled me into a hug.
His embrace felt so familiar and comforting. Suddenly I remembered every hug he ever gave me. I remembered him crying as he held me when he first saw me in my wedding dress. I remembered him holding me tightly after a car accident. It was a weird sensation like I had been hit by a shockwave. Most of the memories faded before I even realized they were there but I could feel them.
"You okay?" He held my shoulders at arm's length.
I hadn't realized how long I had been lost in thought, "Yeah, just thinking."
"Well come sit down. You're too thin. You need to eat."
He guided me towards the table. Throughout dinner I could see questions blaring in everybody's eyes but they all managed to keep the conversation very normal. I was glad they didn't ambush or overwhelm me though. That would have been too much. After dinner, I went into the kitchen to start cleanup. Alice followed me.
"Bella"
I turned around to look at her, "Hey Alice"
She pulled me into a hug, "I wanted to do that from the moment you walked into the dining room but I didn't want to overwhelm you." She turned to walk away but turned back towards me after a second, "I just want you to know that if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here."
"I appreciate that."
She helped me finish cleanup and we went out to the living room together. The rest of the night was fairly quiet. I had a conversation with Esme similar to the one with Alice. Everyone left around 9. The kids had to go to bed. After everyone was gone and the kids were in bed Edward and I sat down on the couch to finish off a bottle of wine from dinner.
"I want you to take your time. I don't want you to rush remembering or integrating back into this family. I want you to sleep alone until you're ready." He said as soon as the wine was gone.
"I don't want to force you out of your bed."
"It's our bed and you're not forcing me to do anything. I want to make sure you are completely comfortable in this house." He put a hand on my shoulder, "Besides, we have two guest rooms, a recliner in the office, and this couch folds out into a queen sized bed. I have plenty of choices."
"Thank you" I stood up, "I should go to bed. It's been a long…" I thought for a second, "I don't even know how long it's been since I last slept."
"Night" I took a few steps then Edward called out, "Your pjs are still in the dresser."
I walked up to the bedroom. I remembered where it was from sleepwalking. I had to go through every drawer but I eventually found my pjs. I couldn't believe he even still had them in the drawers. After I was dressed I crawled into bed. The bed felt familiar and safe. I fell asleep almost instantly.
