Chapter 3
"Bella?" I froze at the door. "Bella, is that really you?" I stayed facing the door, not allowing my face to be seen to him. "Please Bella, it's been 40 years, now your gonna leave without saying goodbye to your old man." I breathed in heavily; his scent was mixed with medicines and necessary disinfectants, it smelt totally wrong from what I remember.
"Yeah, it's me dad." I choked out. Edward was totally right, I made a huge mistake in being here. He wasn't in the state of seeing me now, without aging one bit, while he withers on his deathbed.
"Please Bells, just stay; I won't see you ever again." I nodded to myself. But what was I agreeing to, leaving or staying? My body had already made its decision, and I was slowly facing him. I waited anxiously for his reaction. My eyes didn't meet his gaze; I stared at the white floor. He gasped. There it was, forty years of my secret released to another innocent human.
"Bella, I…I don't know what to say, did you get surgery? I mean if you did there's nothing to be ashamed of…"
"Dad, I didn't get surgery. There's something I need to tell you." His old, wrinkled face was confused. How else can someone still look as young as I did without having some sort of surgery? Charlie watched me as I moved over to the chair beside his bed. I sat down and held one of his hands in both of mine. He flinched at the temperature of my skin. I let go but he grabbed my hand and held it tight. He looked at me intently, waiting for me to explain. I sighed then looked up into his eyes.
"Bella, what happened to your eyes? They're not brown anymore!"
"It's part of my explaining dad, and it won't be easy for you to hear." It was bad enough that he was going through so much pain, now to add this pile on him; he'll probably have another heart attack and die from the news. "I will never age. I'll stay eighteen forever." First part was over with, the age concept. Charlie just stared into space, not concentrating on anything in the room. Then a laugh broke the silence between us. Charlie looked straight at me, his mouth curved up into a huge smile. His chest heaved up and down under the laughter, and then grabbed an oxygen mask as his laugh turned into a fit of coughs.
"What's so funny Charlie? I'm serious, what else is there?" My eyes was fixed on his face, couldn't he take me serious?
"Did my daughter ever tell you that you look an awful lot like her when she was your age? Are you my great-granddaughter then? Did she send you to brighten my day? It's quite unfortunate on how we have to meet like this. Here in the hospital, I would have thought more of Nessie…"
"Dad, believe me, it's really me, it's Bella. Don't you believe me?" I was shocked. I was hoping for more of a different reaction, that he would recognise me.
"You better stop this joke, just admit that your Nessie's daughter. Bella is close to her sixties, you can't be…" The anger inside me was uncontrollable, and I didn't know why I was so mad. This was expected; surely he would deny my reasons. I had to explain quickly, and there was only one way to do that.
"Dad," I lifted my hand to stop him from saying anything, "You remember 40 years ago, when you first saw Nessie, and Jacob showed you something unnatural." Charlie looked past me, concentrating on past memories.
"Jacob…when he turned into a wolf?" He shuddered at the memory.
"Yes, well there is more to the supernatural than you actually know. More than werewolves." Charlie looked up at me, "What are you trying to tell me?" I stood up and paced around the room, thinking of something more to say. Something that would make it easier to explain. "Why don't I show you?" I looked up to his face and put together my idea.
I turned around and looked for something to experiment with. At the bottom of his bed were white, metal safe guards. I wasn't sure whether to use this, but he had to find out someway. I walked to the bottom of the bed, and without much force, snapped the first bar off the bed. Charlie's eyes widened in disbelief. I didn't want to scare him but he needed to know. I held the metal bar in both hands, and then snapped it in half as if it was a pencil. I snapped a small piece off one of the ends, and then held it in my hands. I walked back to the head of the bed and clenched my fist, moving my fingers against the metal piece. I held my hand out in front of his face, and then opened my hand. Charlie looked down at my hand, grabbing my wrist to pull it closer to his old eyes. His fingers rubbing against the powdered metal in my hand.
Charlie looked up into my eyes, trying to find the daughter he had missed for forty years. He pushed my hand away from him, and reached out for his alarm button on the other side of the bed. I sped around the bed, ripped it out of his hand and crushed it in my fist. Charlie was whiter than he had ever been, all blood rushed out of his face, his body locked in the same lying motion. He was petrified of me. I stepped back to the far wall, and leaned against it.
"What are you? You are not my Bella?"
"Don't you see why I have been avoiding you for all these years? I've not been able to see you because I wasn't allowed. These supernatural things are real, dad. They're kept as a secret so no one finds out, but I had to come see you dad. After hearing you were ill, I had to come. Edward insisted that-"
"What? Edward? Bella is that really you?" Charlie's voice broke at the end of his question, a small tear rolling down the edge of his cheek. I nodded towards him, breaking into tearless sobs. Charlie opened his arms out for me, "Oh Bella I've missed you so much." I ran to his arms and we embraced. I rested my head on his shoulder and he lent his cheek against my hair, warm tears running through. The heart monitor was beeping erratically, we were both so happy. Charlie pulled me back and looked at my face, his old hand brushed against my young cheek. "So Bella, what are you?" The question finally came.
"I don't think I should tell you, you'll probably laugh again."
"Anything you say dear, I will believe you, no matter how crazy it sounds." I looked up at his face, and spoke out the words.
"I'm…we're…the Cullens I mean, we are all...vampires." I waited for the laughter. Nothing.
"Vampires, and when did you become one? You were perfectly human when you were with me." The corner of his lip lifted and I smiled back at him.
"It was after the wedding. I got pregnant and Renesmee, Renesmee is no ordinary child. She hasn't got a rare growth gene in her; she is half human, half vampire." Charlie looked at me intently on receiving this new information. "I died whilst giving birth." The heart monitor stopped, and my eyes shot to the machine. But the beeping continued and I breathed a sigh of relief. "Edward changed me to save my life, but it was what I wanted. I wanted to be with him forever."
"Trust you to fall in love with a vampire Bells." And a werewolf too for the shortest amount of time, but he didn't need to know that. He chuckled at the thought. "So he didn't kill you? Well obviously but I mean, don't vampires drink human blood." His hand reached slowly towards his throat and I saw him shift away from me slightly.
"Don't worry dad," I laughed at his gesture, "Carlisle brings his family up on drinking on animal blood only."
We continued like this for the rest of the time we were together. We laughed at some concepts of my being as a vampire, Charlie became amused at our abilities, and I got nervous by the second as his heartbeat would momentarily skip a beat after hearing about all the near death situations near the end of my human life. When he fell asleep, I just watched over him and told myself that the journey was totally worth it, and that I had brightened up the final parts of his life with my being here.
"Charlie, gramps…the nurse is here to check your meds." I leaned over Charlie, my eyes widening in hope that he would understand no one else was supposed to know. His eyes scanned the room and focused on the nurse by his bed fixing his I.V.
He looked at me then spoke, "Erm Nurse Richardson, have you met my granddaughter Renesmee?"
"No, Renesmee, that's an unusual name."
"Yeah, my mum was quite creative; she makes a big point on me being unique." The nurse looked away and I grinned at Charlie. "By the way, what date is it today?"
"It's the thirteenth dear," Charlie spoke up, "Happy Birthday Bel-Renesmee." I looked over to Charlie and a huge smile spread across his face. I returned a smile, my white teeth showing. The nurse staggered back at the sight. I pulled my mouth shut, but still smiled. "Thanks Gramp."
The nurse eventually left us alone in the room, and I stood comfortably at the edge of the bed. I thought about what the nurse had said the night before. A day or so left. Hopefully his health would last past this day. I looked to his face, his eyelids too tired to last for most of the day, and they slowly closed over his eyes.
I looked up from his face and into the mirror opposite from me. My eyes were black, I hadn't fed in a few weeks, I needed to hunt. Charlie let out a grumble, and then began to snore. Would he know if I was gone? I headed to the door and stopped at the handle. He supposedly has one day left, should I miss any time with him. Could a few more days possibly hurt? I wouldn't forgive myself if I wasn't there when he passed, that I wouldn't be there to comfort him through the final moments, and tell him everything would be ok…
Suddenly from behind me, the heart machine started beeping erratically, faster and faster Charlie's heartbeat raced. I spun around and looked straight at the ECG machine. The line for the heart rate moved up and down continuously, closer together as the seconds ticked by. Each one going by slower and slower. I ran towards the bed, Charlie's eyes were rolled back into his head, I bent down to grab the alarm button, but saw the powder of metal in it's place. Great. I moved back up to my dad's side, thinking of anything that would keep him alive. I was standing frozen over his body; there was nothing I could do. I stared into his eyes, hoping that they would roll back into place; that his heart rate would slow to a normal pace.
It finally did.
I looked up to the machine if it could be true, that God would allow me to be with him for a while longer, to let me say my final goodbye.
I looked back down to his face. I was right above his head; my arms were either side of him. "Bella?" He stuttered, his eyes rolled back into place, but he searched for me even though I was there.
"I'm right here dad, don't ever do that to me again, you hear me." I felt the emotion streaming through my blood. I knew vampires couldn't cry, but it felt like poisoned tears were welling up in my eyes.
"Bella, you…you don't realize how…how much this means for you to be here." His hand reached up and held my face. "You've made my final hours better, I've not been alone." I started to shake my head in protest to what he was saying. "Dad, listen to me, don't you say your goodbyes, not now, it's not time." My eyes burned with the unshed tears.
Charlie started nodding, "It's time Bells and you know that, I'm just glad you're here."
"I had to come…I had to tell you…"
"I'm glad you did. You made the right decision in coming. I love you Bells."
"I love you too dad."
His hand slowly slid off my face and fell to the bed. The long final beep of the ECG shouting in my face that his heartbeat had stopped. That he was gone.
